As a man thinketh. By James Allen.

Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,

And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes

The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,

Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:—

He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:

Environment is but his looking-glass.

Contents

1. Foreword

2. Thought and Character

3. Effect of Thought on Circumstances

4. Effect of Thought on Health and the Body

5. Thought and Purpose

6. The Thought-Factor in Achievement

7. Visions and Ideals

8. Serenity

Foreword

THIS little volume (the result of meditation and experience) is not intended as an exhaustive treatise on

the much-written-upon subject of the power of thought. It is suggestive rather than explanatory, its

object being to stimulate men and women to the discovery and perception of the truth that—

"They themselves are makers of themselves."

by virtue of the thoughts, which they choose and encourage; that mind is the master-weaver, both of the

inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance, and that, as they may have hitherto

woven in ignorance and pain they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness.

JAMES ALLEN.

BROAD PARK AVENUE, ILFRACOMBE, ENGLAND

1. Thought and Character

THE aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," not only embraces the whole of a man‘s

being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is

literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.

As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the

hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts

called "spontaneous" and "unpremeditated" as to those, which are deliberately executed.

Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet

and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.

"Thought in the mind hath made us, What we are

By thought was wrought and built. If a man‘s mind

Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes

The wheel the ox behind....

..If one endure

In purity of thought, joy follows him

As his own shadow—sure."

Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and

undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and

Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right

thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial

character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harbouring of grovelling thoughts.

Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thought he forges the weapons by which he

destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy

and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine

Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast.

Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.

Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this

age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this—that man is the

master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and

destiny.

As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to

every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he

may make himself what he wills.

Man is always the master, even in his weaker and most abandoned state; but in his weakness and

degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his "household." When he begins to reflect upon

his condition, and to search diligently for the Law upon which his being is established, he then

becomes the wise master, directing his energies with intelligence, and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful

issues. Such is the conscious master, and man can only thus become by discovering within himself the

laws of thought; which discovery is totally a matter of application, self analysis, and experience.

Only by much searching and mining, are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth

connected with his being, if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his

character, the moulder of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he may unerringly prove, if he will

watch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life

and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and utilizing his every

experience, even to the most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowledge of

himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power. In this direction, as in no other, is the law absolute

that "He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened;" for only by patience,

practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter the Door of the Temple of Knowledge.

2. Effect of Thought on Circumstances

MAN‘S mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild;

but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then

an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.

Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits

which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and

impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure

thoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his

soul, the director of his life. He also reveals, within himself, the laws of thought, and understands, with

ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces and mind elements operate in the shaping of his

character, circumstances, and destiny.

Thought and character are one, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through

environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person‘s life will always be found to be

harmoniously related to his inner state. This does not mean that a man‘s circumstances at any given

time are an indication of his entire character, but that those circumstances are so intimately connected

with some vital thought-element within himself that, for the time being, they are indispensable to his

development.

Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character

have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the

result of a law which cannot err. This is just as true of those who feel "out of harmony" with their

surroundings as of those who are contented with them.

As a progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he

learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives place to

other circumstances.

Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside

conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil

and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of

himself.

That circumstances grow out of thought every man knows who has for any length of time practised

self-control and self-purification, for he will have noticed that the alteration in his circumstances has

been in exact ratio with his altered mental condition. So true is this that when a man earnestly applies

himself to remedy the defects in his character, and makes swift and marked progress, he passes rapidly

through a succession of vicissitudes.

The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours; that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it

reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its unchastened desires,—and

circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.

Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own,

blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good

thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.

The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought, and both pleasant and

unpleasant external conditions are factors, which make for the ultimate good of the individual. As the

reaper of his own harvest, man learns both by suffering and bliss.

Following the inmost desires, aspirations, thoughts, by which he allows himself to be dominated,

(pursuing the will-o‘-the-wisps of impure imaginings or steadfastly walking the highway of strong and

high endeavour), a man at last arrives at their fruition and fulfilment in the outer conditions of his life.

The laws of growth and adjustment everywhere obtains.

A man does not come to the almshouse or the jail by the tyranny of fate or circumstance, but by the

pathway of grovelling thoughts and base desires. Nor does a pure-minded man fall suddenly into crime

by stress of any mere external force; the criminal thought had long been secretly fostered in the heart,

and the hour of opportunity revealed its gathered power. Circumstance does not make the man; it

reveals him to himself No such conditions can exist as descending into vice and its attendant sufferings

apart from vicious inclinations, or ascending into virtue and its pure happiness without the continued

cultivation of virtuous aspirations; and man, therefore, as the lord and master of thought, is the maker

of himself the shaper and author of environment. Even at birth the soul comes to its own and through

every step of its earthly pilgrimage it attracts those combinations of conditions which reveal itself,

which are the reflections of its own purity and, impurity, its strength and weakness.

Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. Their whims, fancies, and ambitions

are thwarted at every step, but their inmost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it foul

or clean. The "divinity that shapes our ends" is in ourselves; it is our very self. Only himself manacles

man: thought and action are the gaolers of Fate—they imprison, being base; they are also the angels of

Freedom—they liberate, being noble. Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he

justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his

thoughts and actions.

In the light of this truth, what, then, is the meaning of "fighting against circumstances?" It means that a

man is continually revolting against an effect without, while all the time he is nourishing and preserving

its cause in his heart. That cause may take the form of a conscious vice or an unconscious weakness;

but whatever it is, it stubbornly retards the efforts of its possessor, and thus calls aloud for remedy.

Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they

therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to

accomplish the object upon which his heart is set. This is as true of earthly as of heavenly things. Even

the man whose sole object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices

before he can accomplish his object; and how much more so he who would realize a strong and well-

poised life?

Here is a man who is wretchedly poor. He is extremely anxious that his surroundings and home

comforts should be improved, yet all the time he shirks his work, and considers he is justified in trying

to deceive his employer on the ground of the insufficiency of his wages. Such a man does not

understand the simplest rudiments of those principles which are the basis of true prosperity, and is not

only totally unfitted to rise out of his wretchedness, but is actually attracting to himself a still deeper

wretchedness by dwelling in, and acting out, indolent, deceptive, and unmanly thoughts.

Here is a rich man who is the victim of a painful and persistent disease as the result of gluttony. He is

willing to give large sums of money to get rid of it, but he will not sacrifice his gluttonous desires. He

wants to gratify his taste for rich and unnatural viands and have his health as well. Such a man is totally

unfit to have health, because he has not yet learned the first principles of a healthy life.

Here is an employer of labour who adopts crooked measures to avoid paying the regulation wage, and,

in the hope of making larger profits, reduces the wages of his workpeople. Such a man is altogether

unfitted for prosperity, and when he finds himself bankrupt, both as regards reputation and riches, he

blames circumstances, not knowing that he is the sole author of his condition.

I have introduced these three cases merely as illustrative of the truth that man is the causer (though

nearly always is unconsciously) of his circumstances, and that, whilst aiming at a good end, he is

continually frustrating its accomplishment by encouraging thoughts and desires which cannot possibly

harmonize with that end. Such cases could be multiplied and varied almost indefinitely, but this is not

necessary, as the reader can, if he so resolves, trace the action of the laws of thought in his own mind

and life, and until this is done, mere external facts cannot serve as a ground of reasoning.

Circumstances, however, are so complicated, thought is so deeply rooted, and the conditions of

happiness vary so, vastly with individuals, that a man‘s entire soul-condition (although it may be

known to himself) cannot be judged by another from the external aspect of his life alone. A man may be

honest in certain directions, yet suffer privations; a man may be dishonest in certain directions, yet

acquire wealth; but the conclusion usually formed that the one man fails because of his particular

honesty, and that the other prospers because of his particular dishonesty, is the result of a superficial

judgment, which assumes that the dishonest man is almost totally corrupt, and the honest man almost

entirely virtuous. In the light of a deeper knowledge and wider experience such judgment is found to be

erroneous. The dishonest man may have some admirable virtues, which the other does, not possess; and

the honest man obnoxious vices which are absent in the other. The honest man reaps the good results of

his honest thoughts and acts; he also brings upon himself the sufferings, which his vices produce. The

dishonest man likewise garners his own suffering and happiness.

It is pleasing to human vanity to believe that one suffers because of one‘s virtue; but not until a man has

extirpated every sickly, bitter, and impure thought from his mind, and washed every sinful stain from

his soul, can he be in a position to know and declare that his sufferings are the result of his good, and

not of his bad qualities; and on the way to, yet long before he has reached, that supreme perfection, he

will have found, working in his mind and life, the Great Law which is absolutely just, and which

cannot, therefore, give good for evil, evil for good. Possessed of such knowledge, he will then know,

looking back upon his past ignorance and blindness, that his life is, and always was, justly ordered, and

that all his past experiences, good and bad, were the equitable outworking of his evolving, yet

unevolved self.

Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce

good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but

nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the

mental and moral world (though its operation there is just as simple and undeviating), and they,

therefore, do not co-operate with it.

Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction. It is an indication that the individual

is out of harmony with himself, with the Law of his being. The sole and supreme use of suffering is to

purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure. Suffering ceases for him who is pure. There could be

no object in burning gold after the dross had been removed, and a perfectly pure and enlightened being

could not suffer.

The circumstances, which a man encounters with suffering, are the result of his own mental inharmony.

The circumstances, which a man encounters with blessedness, are the result of his own mental

harmony. Blessedness, not material possessions, is the measure of right thought; wretchedness, not lack

of material possessions, is the measure of wrong thought. A man may be cursed and rich; he may be

blessed and poor. Blessedness and riches are only joined together when the riches are rightly and

wisely used; and the poor man only descends into wretchedness when he regards his lot as a burden

unjustly imposed.

Indigence and indulgence are the two extremes of wretchedness. They are both equally unnatural and

the result of mental disorder. A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and

prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of

the inner with the outer, of the man with his surroundings.

A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the

hidden justice which regulates his life. And as he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to

accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases

to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means

of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.

Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe; justice, not injustice, is the soul and

substance of life; and righteousness, not corruption, is the moulding and moving force in the spiritual

government of the world. This being so, man has but to right himself to find that the universe is right;

and during the process of putting himself right he will find that as he alters his thoughts towards things

and other people, things and other people will alter towards him.

The proof of this truth is in every person, and it therefore admits of easy investigation by systematic

introspection and self-analysis. Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the

rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. Men imagine that thought can be

kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance. Bestial

thoughts crystallize into habits of drunkenness and sensuality, which solidify into circumstances of

destitution and disease: impure thoughts of every kind crystallize into enervating and confusing habits,

which solidify into distracting and adverse circumstances: thoughts of fear, doubt, and indecision

crystallize into weak, unmanly, and irresolute habits, which solidify into circumstances of failure,

indigence, and slavish dependence: lazy thoughts crystallize into habits of uncleanliness and

dishonesty, which solidify into circumstances of foulness and beggary: hateful and condemnatory

thoughts crystallize into habits of accusation and violence, which solidify into circumstances of injury

and persecution: selfish thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of self-seeking, which solidify into

circumstances more or less distressing. On the other hand, beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystallize

into habits of grace and kindliness, which solidify into genial and sunny circumstances: pure thoughts

crystallize into habits of temperance and self-control, which solidify into circumstances of repose and

peace: thoughts of courage, self-reliance, and decision crystallize into manly habits, which solidify into

circumstances of success, plenty, and freedom: energetic thoughts crystallize into habits of cleanliness

and industry, which solidify into circumstances of pleasantness: gentle and forgiving thoughts

crystallize into habits of gentleness, which solidify into protective and preservative circumstances:

loving and unselfish thoughts crystallize into habits of self-forgetfulness for others, which solidify into

circumstances of sure and abiding prosperity and true riches.

A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results on the

character and circumstances. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his

thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.

Nature helps every man to the gratification of the thoughts, which he most encourages, and

opportunities are presented which will most speedily bring to the surface both the good and evil

thoughts.

Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts, and all the world will soften towards him, and be ready to

help him; let him put away his weakly and sickly thoughts, and lo, opportunities will spring up on

every hand to aid his strong resolves; let him encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him

down to wretchedness and shame. The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of

colours, which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of

your ever-moving thoughts.

"So You will be what you will to be;

Let failure find its false content

In that poor word, ‘environment,‘

But spirit scorns it, and is free.

"It masters time, it conquers space;

It cowes that boastful trickster, Chance,

And bids the tyrant Circumstance

Uncrown, and fill a servant‘s place.

"The human Will, that force unseen,

The offspring of a deathless Soul,

Can hew a way to any goal,

Though walls of granite intervene.

"Be not impatient in delays

But wait as one who understands;

When spirit rises and commands

The gods are ready to obey."

3. Effect of Thought on Health and the Body

THE body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately

chosen or automatically expressed. At the bidding of unlawful thoughts the body sinks rapidly into

disease and decay; at the command of glad and beautiful thoughts it becomes clothed with youthfulness

and beauty.

Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought. Sickly thoughts will express themselves

through a sickly body. Thoughts of fear have been known to kill a man as speedily as a bullet, and they

are continually killing thousands of people just as surely though less rapidly. The people who live in

fear of disease are the people who get it. Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body, and lays it open

to the, entrance of disease; while impure thoughts, even if not physically indulged, will soon shatter the

nervous system.

Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build up the body in vigour and grace. The body is a delicate and

plastic instrument, which responds readily to the thoughts by which it is impressed, and habits of

thought will produce their own effects, good or bad, upon it.

Men will continue to have impure and poisoned blood, so long as they propagate unclean thoughts. Out

of a clean heart comes a clean life and a clean body. Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life and a

corrupt body. Thought is the fount of action, life, and manifestation; make the fountain pure, and all

will be pure.

Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts. When a man makes his thoughts

pure, he no longer desires impure food.

Clean thoughts make clean habits. The so-called saint who does not wash his body is not a saint. He

who has strengthened and purified his thoughts does not need to consider the malevolent microbe.

If you would protect your body, guard your mind. If you would renew your body, beautify your mind.

Thoughts of malice, envy, disappointment, despondency, rob the body of its health and grace. A sour

face does not come by chance; it is made by sour thoughts. Wrinkles that mar are drawn by folly,

passion, and pride.

I know a woman of ninety-six who has the bright, innocent face of a girl. I know a man well under

middle age whose face is drawn into inharmonious contours. The one is the result of a sweet and sunny

disposition; the other is the outcome of passion and discontent.

As you cannot have a sweet and wholesome abode unless you admit the air and sunshine freely into

your rooms, so a strong body and a bright, happy, or serene countenance can only result from the free

admittance into the mind of thoughts of joy and goodwill and serenity.

On the faces of the aged there are wrinkles made by sympathy, others by strong and pure thought, and

others are carved by passion: who cannot distinguish them? With those who have lived righteously, age

is calm, peaceful, and softly mellowed, like the setting sun. I have recently seen a philosopher on his

deathbed. He was not old except in years. He died as sweetly and peacefully as he had lived.

There is no physician like cheerful thought for dissipating the ills of the body; there is no comforter to

compare with goodwill for dispersing the shadows of grief and sorrow. To live continually in thoughts

of ill will, cynicism, suspicion, and envy, is to be confined in a self made prison-hole. But to think well

of all, to be cheerful with all, to patiently learn to find the good in all—such unselfish thoughts are the

very portals of heaven; and to dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every creature will bring

abounding peace to their possessor.

4. Thought and Purpose

UNTIL thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment. With the majority the

bark of thought is allowed to "drift" upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting

must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.

They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and

self-pityings, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately

planned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist

in a power evolving universe.

A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should

make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it

may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being; but whichever it is, he should

steadily focus his thought-forces upon the object, which he has set before him. He should make this

purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to

wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control

and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he

necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of

his true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.

Those who are not prepared for the apprehension of a great purpose should fix the thoughts upon the

faultless performance of their duty, no matter how insignificant their task may appear. Only in this way

can the thoughts be gathered and focussed, and resolution and energy be developed, which being done,

there is nothing which may not be accomplished.

The weakest soul, knowing its own weakness, and believing this truth ‘that strength can only be

developed by effort and practice, will, thus believing, at once begin to exert itself, and, adding effort to

effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never cease to develop, and will at last grow

divinely strong.

As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of

weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.

To put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of

those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all

conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully.

Having conceived of his purpose, a man should mentally mark out a straight pathway to its

achievement, looking neither to the right nor the left. Doubts and fears should be rigorously excluded;

they are disintegrating elements, which break up the straight line of effort, rendering it crooked,

ineffectual, useless. Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplished anything, and never can. They

always lead to failure. Purpose, energy, power to do, and all strong thoughts cease when doubt and fear

creep in.

The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of

knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them. thwarts himself at every step.

He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His every, thought is allied with power,

and all difficulties are bravely met and wisely overcome. His purposes are seasonably planted, and they

bloom and bring forth fruit, which does not fall prematurely to the ground.

Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force: he who knows this is ready to become

something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he

who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.

5. The Thought-Factor in Achievement

ALL that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a

justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility

must be absolute. A man‘s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another

man‘s; they are brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself,

never by another. His condition is also his own, and not another man‘s. His suffering and his happiness

are evolved from within. As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.

A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak

man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he

admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.

It has been usual for men to think and to say, "Many men are slaves because one is an oppressor; let us

hate the oppressor." Now, however, there is amongst an increasing few a tendency to reverse this

judgment, and to say, "One man is an oppressor because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves."

The truth is that oppressor and slave are co-operators in ignorance, and, while seeming to afflict each

other, are in reality afflicting themselves. A perfect Knowledge perceives the action of law in the

weakness of the oppressed and the misapplied power of the oppressor; a perfect Love, seeing the

suffering, which both states entail, condemns neither; a perfect Compassion embraces both oppressor

and oppressed.

He who has conquered weakness, and has put away all selfish thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor

nor oppressed. He is free.

A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and

abject, and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts.

Before a man can achieve anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above slavish

animal indulgence. He may not, in order to succeed, give up all animality and selfishness, by any

means; but a portion of it must, at least, be sacrificed. A man whose first thought is bestial indulgence

could neither think clearly nor plan methodically; he could not find and develop his latent resources,

and would fail in any undertaking. Not having commenced to manfully control his thoughts, he is not

in a position to control affairs and to adopt serious responsibilities. He is not fit to act independently

and stand alone. But he is limited only by the thoughts, which he chooses.

There can be no progress, no achievement without sacrifice, and a man‘s worldly success will be in the

measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his

plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance. And the higher he lifts his thoughts, the

more manly, upright, and righteous he becomes, the greater will be his success, the more blessed and

enduring will be his achievements.

The universe does not favour the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may

sometimes appear to do so; it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous. All the great Teachers of

the ages have declared this in varying forms, and to prove and know it a man has but to persist in

making himself more and more virtuous by lifting up his thoughts.

Intellectual achievements are the result of thought consecrated to the search for knowledge, or for the

beautiful and true in life and nature. Such achievements may be sometimes connected with vanity and

ambition, but they are not the outcome of those characteristics; they are the natural outgrowth of long

and arduous effort, and of pure and unselfish thoughts.

Spiritual achievements are the consummation of holy aspirations. He who lives constantly in the

conception of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish, will, as surely as

the sun reaches its zenith and the moon its full, become wise and noble in character, and rise into a

position of influence and blessedness.

Achievement, of whatever kind, is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought. By the aid of self-

control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends; by the aid of

animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a man descends.

A man may rise to high success in the world, and even to lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm, and again

descend into weakness and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts to take

possession of him.

Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when

success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure.

All achievements, whether in the business, intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of definitely

directed thought, are governed by the same law and are of the same method; the only difference lies in

the object of attainment.

He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much;

he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.

6. Visions and Ideals

THE dreamers are the saviours of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men,

through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their

solitary dreamers. Humanity cannot forget its dreamers; it cannot let their ideals fade and die; it lives in

them; it knows them as they realities which it shall one day see and know.

Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage, these are the makers of the after-world, the architects

of heaven. The world is beautiful because they have lived; without them, labouring humanity would

perish.

He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Columbus

cherished a vision of another world, and he discovered it; Copernicus fostered the vision of a

multiplicity of worlds and a wider universe, and he revealed it; Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual

world of stainless beauty and perfect peace, and he entered into it.

Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that

forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all

delightful conditions, all, heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world

will at last be built.

To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve. Shall man‘s basest desires receive the fullest measure of

gratification, and his purest aspirations starve for lack of sustenance? Such is not the Law: such a

condition of things can never obtain: "ask and receive."

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you

shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits

in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of

realities.

Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not long remain so if you but perceive an Ideal

and strive to reach it. You cannot travel within and stand still without. Here is a youth hard pressed by

poverty and labour; confined long hours in an unhealthy workshop; unschooled, and lacking all the arts

of refinement. But he dreams of better things; he thinks of intelligence, of refinement, of grace and

beauty. He conceives of, mentally builds up, an ideal condition of life; the vision of a wider liberty and

a larger scope takes possession of him; unrest urges him to action, and he utilizes all his spare time and

means, small though they are, to the development of his latent powers and resources. Very soon so

altered has his mind become that the workshop can no longer hold him. It has become so out of

harmony with his mentality that it falls out of his life as a garment is cast aside, and, with the growth of

opportunities, which fit the scope of his expanding powers, he passes out of it forever. Years later we

see this youth as a full-grown man. We find him a master of certain forces of the mind, which he wields

with worldwide influence and almost unequalled power. In his hands he holds the cords of gigantic

responsibilities; he speaks, and lo, lives are changed; men and women hang upon his words and

remould their characters, and, sunlike, he becomes the fixed and luminous centre round which

innumerable destinies revolve. He has realized the Vision of his youth. He has become one with his

Ideal.

And you, too, youthful reader, will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be it base or

beautiful, or a mixture of both, for you will always gravitate toward that which you, secretly, most love.

Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you

earn; no more, no less. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with

your thoughts, your Vision, your Ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as

your dominant aspiration: in the beautiful words of Stanton Kirkham Davis, "You may be keeping

accounts, and presently you shall walk out of the door that for so long has seemed to you the barrier of

your ideals, and shall find yourself before an audience—the pen still behind your ear, the ink stains on

your fingers and then and there shall pour out the torrent of your inspiration. You may be driving sheep,

and you shall wander to the city-bucolic and open-mouthed; shall wander under the intrepid guidance

of the spirit into the studio of the master, and after a time he shall say, ‘I have nothing more to teach

you.‘ And now you have become the master, who did so recently dream of great things while driving

sheep. You shall lay down the saw and the plane to take upon yourself the regeneration of the world."

The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the indolent, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the

things themselves, talk of luck, of fortune, and chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, "How lucky

he is!" Observing another become intellectual, they exclaim, "How highly favoured he is!" And noting

the saintly character and wide influence of another, they remark, "How chance aids him at every turn!"

They do not see the trials and failures and struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in

order to gain their experience; have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted

efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently

insurmountable, and realize the Vision of their heart. They do not know the darkness and the

heartaches; they only see the light and joy, and call it "luck". They do not see the long and arduous

journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it "good fortune," do not understand the process, but

only perceive the result, and call it chance.

In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure

of the result. Chance is not. Gifts, powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits

of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized.

The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart—this you will build

your life by, this you will become.

7. Serenity

CALMNESS of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort

in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary

knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.

A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought evolved being, for such

knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as he develops a right

understanding, and sees more and more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause

and effect he ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.

The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they,

in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The more

tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Even the ordinary

trader will find his business prosperity increase as he develops a greater self-control and equanimity,

for people will always prefer to deal with a man whose demeanour is strongly equable.

The strong, calm man is always loved and revered. He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a

sheltering rock in a storm. "Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered, balanced life? It does

not matter whether it rains or shines, or what changes come to those possessing these blessings, for

they are always sweet, serene, and calm. That exquisite poise of character, which we call serenity is the

last lesson of culture, the fruitage of the soul. It is precious as wisdom, more to be desired than gold—

yea, than even fine gold. How insignificant mere money seeking looks in comparison with a serene

life—a life that dwells in the ocean of Truth, beneath the waves, beyond the reach of tempests, in the

Eternal Calm!

"How many people we know who sour their lives, who ruin all that is sweet and beautiful by explosive

tempers, who destroy their poise of character, and make bad blood! It is a question whether the great

majority of people do not ruin their lives and mar their happiness by lack of self-control. How few

people we meet in life who are well balanced, who have that exquisite poise which is characteristic of

the finished character!

Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is blown about

by anxiety and doubt only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the

winds and the storms of the soul obey him.

Tempest-tossed souls, wherever ye may be, under whatsoever conditions ye may live, know this: In the

ocean of life the isles of Blessedness are smiling, and the sunny shore of your ideal awaits your

coming. Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought. In the bark of your soul reclines the

commanding Master; He does but sleep: wake Him. Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery;

Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, "Peace, be still!"

The Mastery of Destiny. By James Allen

Contents

1. Deeds, Character, and Destiny

2. The Science of Self-Control

3. Cause and Effect in Human Conduct

4. Training of the Will

5. Thoroughness

6. Mind-Building and Life-Building

7. Cultivation of Concentration

8. Practice of Meditation

9. The Power of Purpose

10. The Joy of Accomplishment

1. Deeds, Character, and Destiny

THERE is, and always has been, a widespread belief in Fate, or Destiny, that is, in an eternal and

inscrutable Power which apportions definite ends to both individuals and nations. This belief has arisen

from long observation of the facts of life.

Men are conscious that there are certain occurrences which they cannot control, and are powerless to

avert. Birth and death, for instance, are inevitable, and many of the incidents of life appear equally

inevitable.

Men strain every nerve for the attainment of certain ends, and gradually they become conscious of a

Power which seems to be not of themselves, which frustrates their puny efforts, and laughs, as it were,

at their fruitless striving and struggle.

As men advance in life, they learn to submit, more or less, to this overruling Power which they do not

understand, perceiving only its effects in themselves and the world around them, and they call it by

various names, such as God, Providence, Fate, Destiny, etc.

Men of contemplation, such as poets and philosophers, step aside, as it were, to watch the movements

of this mysterious Power as it seems to elevate its favorites on the one hand, and strike down its victims

on the other, without reference to merit or demerit.

The greatest poets, especially the dramatic poets, represent this Power in their works, as they have

observed it in Nature. The Greek and Roman dramatists usually depict their heroes as having

foreknowledge of their fate, and taking means to escape it; but by so doing they blindly involve

themselves in a series of consequences which bring about the doom which they are trying to avert.

Shakespeare‘s characters, on the other hand, are represented, as in Nature, with no foreknowledge

(except in the form of presentiment) of their particular destiny. Thus, according to the poets, whether

the man knows his fate or not, he cannot avert it, and every conscious or unconscious act of his is a step

towards it.

Omar Khayyam‘s Moving Finger is a vivid expression of this idea of Fate:

"The Moving Finger writes, and having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."

Thus, men in all nations and times have experienced in their lives the action of this invincible Power or

Law, and in our nation today this experience has been crystallized in the terse proverb, "Man proposes,

God disposes."

But, contradictory as it may appear, there is an equally widespread belief in man‘s responsibility as a

free agent.

All moral teaching is an affirmation of man‘s freedom to choose his course and mold his destiny: and

man‘s patient and untiring efforts in achieving his ends are declarations of consciousness of freedom

and power.

This dual experience of fate on the one hand, and freedom on the other, has given rise to the

interminable controversy between the believers in Fatalism and the upholders of free will —a

controversy which was recently revived under the term "Determinism versus Freewill."

Between apparently conflicting extremes there is always a "middle way" of balance, justice, or

compensation which, while it includes both extremes, cannot be said to be either one or the other, and

which brings both into harmony; and this middle way is the point of contact between two extremes.

Truth cannot be a partisan, but, by its nature, is the Reconciler of extremes; and so, in the matter which

we are considering, there is a "golden mean" which brings Fate and Free will into close relationship,

wherein, indeed, it is seen that these two indisputable facts in human life, for such they are, are but two

aspects of one central law, one unifying and all-embracing principle, namely, the law of causation in its

moral aspect.

Moral causation necessitates both Fate and Free will, both individual responsibility and individual

predestination, for the law of causes must also be the law of effects, and cause and effect must always

be equal; the train of causation, both in matter and mind, must be eternally balanced, therefore eternally

just, eternally perfect. Thus every effect may be said to be a thing preordained, but the predetermining

power is a cause, and not the fiat of an arbitrary will.

Man finds himself involved in the train of causation. His life is made up of causes and effects. It is both

a sowing and a reaping. Each act of his is a cause which must be balanced by its effects. He chooses the

cause (this is Free will), he cannot choose, alter, or avert the effect (this is Fate); thus Free will stands

for the power to initiate causes, and destiny is involvement in effects.

It is therefore true that man is predestined to certain ends, but he himself has (though he knows it not)

issued the mandate; that good or evil thing from which there is no escape, he has, by his own deeds,

brought about.

It may here be urged that man is not responsible for his deeds, that these are the effects of his character,

and that he is not responsible for the character, good or bad, which was given him at his birth. If

character was "given him" at birth, this would be true, and there would then be no moral law, and no

need for moral teaching; but characters are not given ready made, they are evolved; they are, indeed,

effects, the products of the moral law itself, that is— the products of deeds. Character result of an

accumulation of deeds which have been piled up, so to speak, by the individual during his life.

Man is the doer of his own deeds; as such he is the maker of his own character; and as the doer of his

deeds and the maker of his character, he is the molder and shaper of his destiny. He has the power to

modify and alter his deeds, and every time he acts he modifies his character, and with the modification

of his character for good or evil, he is predetermining for himself new destinies— destinies disastrous

or beneficent in accordance with the nature of his deeds. Character is destiny itself; as a fixed

combination of deeds, it bears within itself the results of those deeds. These results lie hidden as moral

seeds in the dark recesses of the character, awaiting their season of germination, growth, and fruitage.

Those things which befall a man are the reflections of himself; that destiny which pursued him, which

he was powerless to escape by effort, or avert by prayer, was the relentless ghoul of his own wrong

deeds demanding and enforcing restitution; those blessings and curses which come to him unbidden are

the reverberating echoes of the sounds which he himself sent forth.

It is this knowledge of the Perfect Law working through and above all things; of the Perfect Justice

operating in and adjusting all human affairs, that enables the good man to love his enemies, and to rise

above all hatred, resentment, and complaining; for he knows that only his own can come to him, and

that, though he be surrounded by persecutors, his enemies are but the blind instruments of a faultless

retribution; and so he blames them not, but calmly receives his accounts, and patiently pays his moral

debts.

But this is not all; he does not merely pay his debts; he takes care not to contract any further debts. He

watches himself and makes his deeds faultless. While paying off evil accounts, he is laying up good

accounts. By putting an end to his own sin, he is bringing evil and suffering to an end.

And now let us consider how the Law operates in particular instances in the outworking of destiny

through deeds and character. First, we will look at this present life, for the present is the synthesis of the

entire past; the net result of all that a man has ever thought and done is contained within him. It is

noticeable that sometimes the good man fails and the unscrupulous man prospers— a fact which seems

to put all moral maxims as to the good results of righteousness out of account— and because of this,

many people deny the operation of any just law in human life, and even declare that it is chiefly the

unjust that prosper.

Nevertheless, the moral law exists, and is not altered or subverted by shallow conclusions. It should be

remembered that man is a changing, evolving being. The good man was not always good; the bad man

was not always bad. Even in this life, there was a time, in a large number of instances, when the man

who is now just, was unjust; when he who is now kind, was cruel; when he who is now pure, was

impure.

Conversely, there was a time in this life, in a number of instances, when he who is now unjust, was just;

when he who is now cruel, was kind; when he who is now impure, was pure. Thus, the good man who

is overtaken with calamity today is reaping the result of his former evil sowing; later he will reap the

happy result of his present good sowing; while the bad man is now reaping the result of his former

good sowing; later he will reap the result of his present sowing of bad.

Characteristics are fixed habits of mind, the results of deeds. An act repeated a large number of times

becomes unconscious, or automatic— that is, it then seems to repeat itself without any effort on the

part of the doer, so that it seems to him almost impossible not to do it, and then it has become a mental

characteristic.

Here is a poor man out of work. He is honest, and is not a shirker. He wants work, and cannot get it. He

tries hard, and continues to fail. Where is the justice in his lot? There was a time in this man‘s condition

when he had plenty of work. He felt burdened with it; he shirked it, and longed for ease. He thought

how delightful it would be to have nothing to do.

He did not appreciate the blessedness of his lot. His desire for ease is now gratified, but the fruit for

which he longed, and which he thought would taste so sweet, has turned to ashes in his mouth. The

condition which he aimed for, namely, to have nothing to do, he has reached, and there he is compelled

to remain till his lesson is thoroughly learned.

And he is surely learning that habitual ease is degrading, that to have nothing to do is a condition of

wretchedness, and that work is a noble and blessed thing. His former desires and deeds have brought

him where he is; and now his present desire for work, his ceaseless searching and asking for it, will just

as surely bring about its own beneficent result. No longer desiring idleness, his present condition will,

as an effect, the cause of which is no longer propagated, soon pass away, and he will obtain

employment; and if his whole mind is now set on work, and he desires it above all else, then when it

comes he will be overwhelmed with it; it will flow in to him from all sides, and he will prosper in his

industry.

Then, if he does not understand the law of cause and effect in human life, he will wonder why work

comes to him apparently unsought, while others who seek it strenuously fail to obtain it. Nothing

comes unbidden; where the shadow is, there also is the substance. That which comes to the individual

is the product of his own deeds.

As cheerful industry leads to greater industry and increasing prosperity, and labor shirked or

undertaken discontentedly leads to a lesser degree of labor and decreasing prosperity, so with all the

varied conditions of life as we see them— they are the destinies wrought by the thoughts and deeds of

each particular individual. So also with the vast variety of characters— they are the ripening and

ripened growth of the sowing of deeds.

As the individual reaps what he sows, so the nation, being a community of individuals, reaps also what

it sows. Nations become great when their leaders are just men; they fall and fade when their just men

pass away. Those who are in power set an example, good or bad, for the entire nation.

Great will be the peace and prosperity of a nation when there shall arise within it a line of statesmen

who, having first established themselves in a lofty integrity of character, shall direct the energies of the

nation toward the culture of virtue and development of character, knowing that only through personal

industry, integrity, and nobility can national prosperity proceed.

Still, above all, is the Great Law, calmly and with infallible justice meting out to mortals their fleeting

destinies, tear-stained or smiling, the fabric of their hands. Life is a great school for the development of

character, and all, through strife and struggle, vice and virtue, success and failure, are slowly but surely

learning the lessons of wisdom.

2. The Science of Self-Control

WE live in a scientific age. Men of science are numbered by thousands, and they are ceaselessly

searching, analyzing, and experimenting with a view to discovery and the increase of knowledge.

The shelves of our libraries, both public and private, are heavy with their load of imposing volumes on

scientific subjects, and the wonderful achievements of modern science are always before us— whether

in our homes or in our streets, in country or town, on land or sea— there shall we have before us some

marvelous device, some recent accomplishment of science, for adding to our comfort, increasing our

speed, or saving the labor of our hands.

Yet, with all our vast store of scientific knowledge, and its startling and rapidly increasing results in the

world of discovery and invention, there is, in this age, one branch of science which has so far fallen

into decay as to have become almost forgotten; a science, nevertheless, which is of greater importance

than all the other sciences combined, and without which all science would but subserve the ends of

selfishness, and aid in man‘s destruction—I refer to the Science of Self-control.

Our modern scientists study the elements and forces which are outside themselves, with the object of

controlling and utilizing them. The ancients studied the elements and forces which were within

themselves, with a view to controlling and utilizing them, and the ancients produced such mighty

Masters of knowledge in this direction, that to this day they are held in reverence as gods, and the vast

religious organizations of the world are based upon their achievements.

Wonderful as are the forces in nature, they are vastly inferior to that combination of intelligent forces

which comprise the mind of man, and which dominate and direct the blind mechanical forces of nature.

Therefore, it follows that, to understand, control, and direct the inner forces of passion, desire, will, and

intellect, is to be in possession of the destinies of men and nations.

As in ordinary science, there are, in this divine science, degrees of attainment; and a man is great in

knowledge, great in himself, and great in his influence on the world, in the measure that he is great in

self-control.

He who understands and dominates the forces of external nature is the natural scientist; but he who

understands and dominates the internal forces of the mind is the divine scientist; and the laws which

operate in gaining a knowledge of external appearances, operate also in gaining a knowledge of internal

varieties.

A man cannot become an accomplished scientist in a few weeks or months, nay, not even in a few

years. But only after many years of painstaking investigation can he speak with authority, and be

ranked among the masters of science. Likewise, a man cannot acquire self-control, and become

possessed of the wisdom and peace giving knowledge which that self-control confers, but by many

years of patient labor; a labor which is all the more arduous because it is silent, and both unrecognized

and unappreciated by others; and he who would pursue this science successfully must learn to stand

alone, and to toil unrewarded, as far as any outward emolument is concerned.

The natural scientist pursues, in acquiring his particular kind of knowledge, the following five orderly

and sequential steps:

1. Observation: that is, he closely and persistently observes the facts of nature.

2. Experiment: Having become acquainted, by repeated observations, with certain facts, he experiments

with those facts, with a view to the discovery of natural laws. He puts his facts through rigid processes

of analysis, and so finds out what is useless and what of value; and he rejects the former and retains the

latter.

3. Classification: Having accumulated and verified a mass of facts by numberless observations and

experiments, he commences to classify those facts, to arrange them in orderly groups with the object of

discovering some underlying law, some hidden and unifying principle, which governs, regulates, and

binds together these facts.

4. Deduction: Thus he passes on to the fourth step of deduction. From the facts and results which are

before him, he discovers certain invariable modes of action, and thus reveals the hidden laws of things.

5. Knowledge: Having proven and established certain laws, it may be said of such a man that he knows.

He is a scientist, a man of knowledge.

But the attainment of scientific knowledge is not the end, great as it is. Men do not attain knowledge

for themselves alone, nor to keep it locked secretly in their hearts, like a beautiful jewel in a dark chest.

The end of such knowledge is use, service, the increase of the comfort and happiness of the world.

Thus, when a man has become a scientist, he gives the world the benefit of his knowledge, and

unselfishly bestows upon mankind the results of all his labors.

Thus, beyond knowledge, there is a further step of Use: that is, the right and unselfish use of the

knowledge acquired; the application of knowledge to invention for the common weal.

It will be noted that the five steps or processes enumerated follow in orderly succession, and that no

man can become a scientist who omits any one of them. Without the first step of systematic

observation, for instance, he could not even enter the realm of knowledge of nature‘s secrets.

At first, the searcher for such knowledge has before him a universe of things: these things he does not

understand; many of them, indeed, seem to be irreconcilably opposed one to the other, and there is

apparent confusion; but by patiently and laboriously pursuing these five processes, he discovers the

order, nature, and essences of things; perceives the central law or laws which bind them together in

harmonious relationship, and so puts an end to confusion and ignorance.

As with the natural scientist, so with the divine scientist; he must pursue, with the same self-sacrificing

diligence, five progressive steps in the attainment of self-knowledge, self-control. These five steps are

the same as with the natural scientist, but the process is reversed, the mind, instead of being centered

upon external things, is turned back upon itself, and the investigations are pursued in the realm of mind

(of one‘s own mind) instead of in that of matter.

At first, the searcher for divine knowledge is confronted with that mass of desires, passions, emotions,

ideas, and intellections which he calls himself, which is the basis of all his actions, and from which his

life proceeds.

This combination of invisible, yet powerful, forces appears confusedly;

some of them stand, apparently, in direct conflict with each other, without any appearance or hope of

reconciliation; his mind in its entirety, too, with his life which proceeds from that mind, does not seem

to have any equitable relation to many other minds and lives about him, and altogether there is a

condition of pain and confusion from which he would fain escape.

Thus, he begins by keenly realizing his state of ignorance, for no one could acquire either natural or

divine knowledge, if he were convinced that without study or labor he already possessed it.

With such perception of one‘s ignorance, there comes the desire for knowledge, and the novice in self-

control enters upon the ascending pathway, in which are the following five steps:

1. Introspection. This coincides with the observation of the natural scientist. The mental eye is turned

like a searchlight upon the inner things of the mind, and its subtle and ever varying processes are

observed and carefully noted. This stepping aside from selfish gratifications, from the excitements of

worldly pleasures and ambitions, in order to observe, with the object of understanding, one‘s nature, is

the beginning of self-control. Hitherto, the man has been blindly and impotently borne along by the

impulses of his nature, the mere creature of things and circumstances, but now he puts a check upon his

impulses and, instead of being controlled, begins to control.

2. Self-analysis. Having observed the tendencies of the mind, they are then closely examined, and are

put through a rigid process of analysis. The evil tendencies (those that produce painful effects) are

separated from the good tendencies (those that produce peaceful effects); and the various tendencies,

with the particular actions they produce, and the definite results which invariably spring from these

actions, are gradually grasped by the understanding, which is at last enabled to follow them in their

swift and subtle interplay and profound ramifications. It is a process of testing and proving, and, for the

searcher, a period of being tested and proved.

3. Adjustment. By this time, the practical student of things divine has clearly before him every tendency

and aspect of his nature, down to the profoundest promptings of his mind, and the most subtle motives

of his heart. There is not a spot or corner left, which he has not explored and illuminated with the light

of self-examination.

He is familiar with every weak and selfish point, every strong and virtuous quality. It is considered the

height of wisdom to be able to see ourselves as others see us, but the practitioner of self-control goes

far beyond this: he not only sees himself as others see him, he sees himself as he is. Thus, standing face

to face with himself, not striving to hide away from any secret fault; no longer defending himself with

pleasant flatteries; neither underrating nor overrating himself or his powers, and no more cursed with

self-praise or self-pity, he sees the full magnitude of the task which lies before him; sees dearly ahead

the heights of self-control, and knows what work he has to do to reach them.

He is no longer in a state of confusion, but has gained a glimpse of the laws which operate in the world

of thought, and he now begins to adjust his mind in accordance with those laws. This is a process of

weeding, sifting, cleansing. As the farmer weeds, cleans, and prepares the ground for his crops, so the

student removes the weeds of evil from his mind, cleanses and purifies it preparatory to sowing the

seeds of righteous actions which shall produce the harvest of a well ordered life.

4. Righteousness. Having adjusted his thoughts and deeds to those minor laws which operate in mental

activities in the production of pain and pleasure, unrest and peace, sorrow and bliss, he now perceives

that there is involved in those laws one Great Central Law which, like the law of gravitation in the

natural world, is supreme in the world of mind; a law to which all thoughts and deeds are subservient,

and by which they are regulated and kept in their proper sphere.

This is the law of Justice or Righteousness, which is universal and supreme. To this law he now

conforms. Instead of thinking and acting blindly, as the nature is stimulated and appealed to by outward

things, he subordinates his thoughts and deeds to this central principle. He no longer acts from self, but

does what is right— what is universally and eternally right. He is no longer the abject slave of his

nature and circumstances, he is the master of his nature and circumstances.

He is no longer carried hither and thither on the forces of his mind; he controls and guides those forces

to the accomplishment of his purposes. Thus, having his nature in control and subjection, not thinking

thoughts nor doing deeds which oppose the righteous law, and which, therefore, that law annuls with

suffering and defeat, he rises above the dominion of sin and sorrow, ignorance and doubt, and is strong,

calm, and peaceful.

5. Pure Knowledge. By thinking right and acting right, he proves, by experience, the existence of the

divine law on which the mind is framed, and which is the guiding and unifying principle in all human

affairs and events, whether individual or national. Thus, by perfecting himself in self-control, he

acquires divine knowledge; he reaches the point where it may be said of him, as of the natural scientist,

that he knows.

He has mastered the science of self-control, and has brought knowledge out of ignorance, order out of

confusion. He has acquired that knowledge of self which includes knowledge of all men; that

knowledge of one‘s own life which embraces knowledge of all live — as for all minds are the same in

essence (differing only in degree), are framed upon the same law; and the same thoughts and acts, by

whatsoever individual they are wrought, will always produce the same results.

But this divine and peace bestowing knowledge, as in the case of the natural scientist, is not gained for

one‘s self alone; for if this were so, the aim of evolution would be frustrated, and it is not in the nature

of things to fall short of ripening and accomplishment; and, indeed, he who thought to gain this

knowledge solely for his own happiness would most surely fail.

So, beyond the fifth step of Pure Knowledge, there is a still further one of Wisdom, which is the right

application of the knowledge acquired; the pouring out upon the world, unselfishly and without stint,

the result of one‘s labors, thus accelerating progress and uplifting humanity.

It may be said of men who have not gone back into their own nature to control and purify it, that they

cannot clearly distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong. They reach after those things which

they think will give them pleasure, and try to avoid those things which they believe will cause them

pain.

The source of their actions is self, and they only discover right painfully and in a fragmentary way, by

periodically passing through severe sufferings, and lashings of conscience. But he who practices self-

control, passing through the five processes, which are five stages of growth, gains that knowledge

which enables him to act from the moral law which sustains the universe. He knows good and evil,

right and wrong, and, thus knowing them, lives in accordance with good and right. He no longer needs

to consider what is pleasant or what is unpleasant, but does what is right; his nature is in harmony with

his conscience, and there is no remorse; his mind is in unison with the Great Law, and there is no more

suffering and sin; for him evil is ended, and good is all in all.

3. Cause and Effect in Human Conduct

IT is an axiom with the scientists that every effect is related to a cause. Apply this to the realm of

human conduct, and there is revealed the principle of Justice.

Every scientist knows (and now all men believe) that perfect harmony prevails throughout every

portion of the physical universe, from the speck of dust to the greatest sun. Everywhere there is

exquisite adjustment. In the sidereal universe, with its millions of suns rolling majestically through

space and carrying with them their respective systems of revolving planets, its vast nebula, its seas of

meteors, and its vast army of comets traveling through illimitable space with inconceivable velocity,

perfect order prevails; and again, in the natural world, with its multitudinous aspects of life, and its

infinite variety of forms, there are the clearly defined limits of specific laws, through the operation of

which all confusion is avoided, and unity and harmony eternally obtain.

If this universal harmony could be arbitrarily broken, even in one small particular, the universe would

cease to be; there could be no cosmos, but only universal chaos. Nor can it be possible in such a

universe of law that there should exist any personal power which is above, outside, and superior to,

such law in the sense that it can defy it, or set it aside; for whatsoever beings exist, whether they be

men or gods, they exist by virtue of such law; and the highest, best, and wisest among all beings would

manifest his greater wisdom by his more complete obedience to that law which is wiser than wisdom,

and than which nothing more perfect could be devised.

All things, whether visible or invisible, are subservient to, and fall within the scope of, this infinite and

eternal law of causation. As all things seen obey it, so all things unseen — the thoughts and deeds of

men, whether secret or open— cannot escape it.

"Do right, it recompenseth; do one wrong, The equal retribution must be made."

Perfect justice upholds the universe; perfect justice regulates human life and conduct. All the varying

conditions of life, as they obtain in the world today, are the result of this law reacting on human

conduct. Man can (and does) choose what causes he shall set in operation, but he cannot change the

nature of effects; he can decide what thoughts he shall think, and what deeds he shall do, but he has no

power over the results of those thoughts and deeds; these are regulated by the overruling law.

Man has all power to act, but his power ends with the act committed. The result of the act cannot be

altered, annulled, or escaped; it is irrevocable. Evil thoughts and deeds produce conditions of suffering;

good thoughts and deeds determine conditions of blessedness. Thus man‘s power is limited to, and his

blessedness or misery is determined by his own conduct. To know this truth, renders life simple, plain,

and unmistakable; all the crooked paths are straightened out, the heights of wisdom are revealed, and

the open door to salvation from evil and suffering is perceived and entered.

Life may be likened to a sum in arithmetic. It is bewilderingly difficult and complex to the pupil who

has not yet grasped the key to its correct solution, but once this is perceived and laid hold of, it

becomes as astonishingly simple as it was formerly profoundly perplexing. Some idea of this relative

simplicity and complexity of life may be grasped by fully recognizing and realizing the fact that, while

there are scores, and perhaps hundreds, of ways in which a sum may be done wrong, there is only one

way by which it can be done right, and that when that right way is found the pupil knows it to be the

right; his perplexity vanishes, and he knows that he has mastered the problem.

It is true that the pupil, while doing his sum incorrectly, may (and frequently does) think he has done it

correctly, but he is not sure; his perplexity is still there, and if he is an earnest and apt pupil, he will

recognize his own error when it is pointed out by the teacher. So in life, men may think they are living

rightly while they are continuing, through ignorance, to live wrongly; but the presence of doubt,

perplexity, and unhappiness are sure indications that the right way has not yet been found.

There are foolish and careless pupils who would like to pass a sum as correct before they have acquired

a true knowledge of figures, but the eye and skill of the teacher quickly detect and expose the fallacy.

So in life there can be no falsifying of results; the eye of the Great Law reveals and exposes. Twice five

will make ten to all eternity, and no amount of ignorance, stupidity, or delusion can bring the result up

to eleven.

If one looks superficially at a piece of cloth, he sees it as a piece of cloth, but if he goes further and

inquires into its manufacture, and examines it closely and attentively, he sees that it is composed of a

combination of individual threads, and that, while all the threads are interdependent, each thread

pursues its own way throughout, never becoming confused with its sister thread. It is this entire absence

of confusion between the particular threads which constitutes the finished work a piece of cloth; any

inharmonious commingling of the thread would result in a bundle of waste or a useless rag.

Life is like a piece of cloth, and the threads of which it is composed are individual lives. The threads,

while being interdependent, are not confounded one with the other. Each follows its own course. Each

individual suffers and enjoys the consequences of his own deeds, and not of the deeds of another. The

course of each is simple and definite; the whole forming a complicated, yet harmonious, combination

of sequences. There are action and reaction, deed and consequence, cause and effect, and the

counterbalancing reaction, consequence, and effect is always in exact ratio with the initiatory impulse.

A durable and satisfactory piece of cloth cannot be made from shoddy material, and the threads of

selfish thoughts and bad deeds will not produce a useful and beautiful life — a life that will wear well,

and bear close inspection. Each man makes or mars his own life; it is not made or marred by his

neighbor, or by anything external to himself. Each thought he thinks, each deed he does, is another

thread— shoddy or genuine— woven into the garment of his life; and as he makes the garment so must

he wear it. He is not responsible for his neighbor‘s deeds; he is not the custodian of his neighbor‘s

actions; he is responsible only for his own deeds; he is the custodian of his own actions.

The "problem of evil" subsists in a man‘s own evil deeds, and it is solved when those deeds are

purified. Says Rousseau:

"Man, seek no longer the origin of evil; thou thyself art its origin."

Effect can never be divorced from cause; it can never be of a different nature from cause. Emerson

says:

"Justice is not postponed; a perfect equity adjusts the balance in all parts of life."

And there is a profound sense in which cause and effect are simultaneous, and form one perfect whole.

Thus, upon the instant that a man thinks, say, a cruel thought, or does a cruel deed, that same instant he

has injured his own mind; he is not the same man he was the previous instant; he is a little viler and a

little more unhappy; and a number of such successive thoughts and deeds would produce a cruel and

wretched man. The same thing applies to the contrary— the thinking of a kind thought, or doing a kind

deed— an immediate nobility and happiness attend it; the man is better than he was before, and a

number of such deeds would produce a great and blissful soul.

Thus individual human conduct determines, by the faultless law of cause and effect, individual merit or

demerit, individual greatness or meanness, individual happiness or wretchedness. What a man thinks,

that he does; what he does, that he is. If he is perplexed, unhappy, restless, or wretched, let him look to

himself, for there and nowhere else is the source of all his trouble.

4. Training of the Will

WITHOUT strength of mind, nothing worthy of accomplishment can be done, and the cultivation of

that steadfastness and stability of character which is commonly called "willpower" is one of the

foremost duties of man, for its possession is essentially necessary both to his temporal and eternal well

being. Fixedness of purpose is at the root of all successful efforts, whether in things worldly or

spiritual, and without it man cannot be otherwise than wretched, and dependent upon others for that

support which should be found within himself.

The mystery which has been thrown around the subject of cultivation of the will by those who advertise

to sell "occult advice" on the matter for so many dollars, should be avoided and dispelled, for nothing

could be further removed from secrecy and mystery than the practical methods by which alone strength

of will can be developed.

The true path of will cultivation is only to be found in the common everyday life of the individual, and

so obvious and simple is it that the majority, looking for something complicated and mysterious, pass it

by unnoticed.

A little logical thought will soon convince a man that he cannot be both weak and strong at the same

time, that he cannot develop a stronger will while remaining a slave to weak indulgences, and that,

therefore, the direct and only way to that greater strength is to assail and conquer his weaknesses. All

the means for the cultivation of the will are already at hand in the mind and life of the individual; they

reside in the weak side of his character, by attacking and vanquishing which the necessary strength of

will be developed. He who has succeeded in grasping this simple, preliminary truth, will perceive that

the whole science of will cultivation is embodied in the following seven rules:

1. Break off bad habits.

2. Form good habits.

3. Give scrupulous attention to the duty of the present moment.

4. Do vigorously, and at once, whatever has to be done.

5. Live by rule.

6. Control the tongue.

7. Control the mind.

Anyone who earnestly meditates upon, and diligently practices, the above rules, will not fail to develop

that purity of purpose and power of will which will enable him to successfully cope with every

difficulty, and pass triumphantly through every emergency.

It will be seen that the first step is the breaking away from bad habits. This is no easy task. It demands

the putting forth of great efforts, or a succession of efforts, and it is by such efforts that the will can

alone be invigorated and fortified. If one refuses to take the first step, he cannot increase in willpower,

for by submitting to a bad habit, because of the immediate pleasure which it affords, one forfeits the

right to rule over himself, and is so far a weak slave. He who thus avoids self-discipline, and looks

about for some "occult secrets" for gaining willpower at the expenditure of little or no effort on his part,

is deluding himself, and is weakening the willpower which he already possesses.

The increased strength of will which is gained by success in overcoming bad habits enables one to

initiate good habits; for, while the conquering of a bad habit requires merely strength of purpose, the

forming of a new one necessitates the intelligent direction of purpose. To do this, a man must be

mentally active and energetic, and must keep a constant watch upon himself. As a man succeeds in

perfecting himself in the second rule, it will not be very difficult for him to observe the third, that of

giving scrupulous attention to the duty of the present moment.

Thoroughness is a step in the development of the will which cannot be passed over. Slipshod work is an

indication of weakness. Perfection should be aimed at, even in the smallest task. By not dividing the

mind, but giving the whole attention to each separate task as it presents itself, singleness of purpose and

intense concentration of mind are gradually gained — two mental powers which give weight and worth

of character, and bring repose and joy to their possessor.

The fourth rule — that of doing vigorously, and at once, whatever has to be done — is equally

important. Idleness and a strong will cannot go together, and procrastination is a total barrier to the

acquisition of purposeful action. Nothing should be "put off" until another time, not even for a few

minutes. That which ought to be done now should be done now. This seems a little thing, but it is of far

reaching importance. It leads to strength, success, and peace.

The man who is to manifest a cultivated will must also live by certain fixed rules. He must not blindly

gratify his passions and impulses, but must school them to obedience. He should live according to

principle, and not according to passion.

He should decide what he will eat and drink and wear, and what he will not eat and drink and wear;

how many meals per day he will have, and at what times he will have them; at what time he will go to

bed, and at what time get up. He should make rules for the right government of his conduct in every

department of his life, and should religiously adhere to them. To live loosely and indiscriminately,

eating and drinking and sensually indulging at the beck and call of appetite and inclination, is to be a

mere animal, and not a man with will and reason.

The beast in man must be scourged and disciplined and brought into subjection, and this can only be

done by training the mind and life on certain fixed rules of right conduct. The saint attains to holiness

by not violating his vows, and the man who lives according to good and fixed rules, is strong to

accomplish his purpose.

The sixth rule, that of controlling the tongue, must be practiced until one has perfect command of his

speech, so that he utters nothing in peevishness, anger, irritability, or with evil intent. The man of strong

will does not allow his tongue to run thoughtlessly and without check.

All these six rules, if faithfully practiced, will lead up to the seventh, which is the most important of

them all — namely, rightly controlling the mind. Self-control is the most essential thing in life, yet least

understood; but he who patiently practices the rules herein laid down, bringing them into requisition in

all his ways and undertakings, will learn, by his own experience and efforts, how to control and train

his mind, and to earn thereby the supreme crown of manhood — the crown of a perfectly poised will.

5. Thoroughness

THOROUGHNESS consists in doing little things as though they were the greatest things in the world.

That the little things of life are of primary importance, is a truth not generally understood, and the

thought that little things can be neglected, thrown aside, or slurred over, is at the root of that lack of

thoroughness which is so common, and which results in imperfect work and unhappy lives.

When one understands that the great things of the world and of life consist of a combination of small

things, and that without this aggregation of small things the great things would be nonexistent, then he

begins to pay careful attention to those things which he formerly regarded as insignificant. He thus

acquires the quality of thoroughness, and becomes a man of usefulness and influence; for the

possession or non-possession of this one quality may mean all the difference between a life of peace

and power, and one of misery and weakness.

Every employer of labor knows how comparatively rare this quality is — how difficult it is to find men

and women who will put thought and energy into their work, and do it completely and satisfactorily.

Bad workmanship abounds. Skill and excellence are acquired by few. Thoughtlessness, carelessness,

and laziness are such common vices that it should cease to appear strange that, in spite of "social

reform," the ranks of the unemployed should continue to swell, for those who scamp their work today

will, another day, in the hour of deep necessity, look and ask for work in vain.

The law of the survival of the fittest is not based on cruelty, it is based on justice: it is one aspect of that

divine equity which everywhere prevails. Vice is "beaten with many stripes"; if it were not so, how

could virtue be developed? The thoughtless and lazy cannot take precedence of, or stand equally with,

the thoughtful and industrious. A friend of mine tells me that his father gave all his children the

following piece of advice:

"Whatever your future work may be, put your whole mind upon it and do it thoroughly; you need then

have no fear as to your welfare, for there are so many who are careless and negligent that the services

of the thorough man are always in demand."

I know those who have, for years, tried almost in vain to secure competent workmanship in spheres

which do not require exceptional skill, but which call chiefly for forethought, energy, and conscientious

care. They have discharged one after another for negligence, laziness, incompetence, and persistent

breaches of duty — not to mention other vices which have no bearing on this subject; yet the vast army

of the unemployed continues to cry out against the laws, against society, and against Heaven.

The cause of this common lack of thoroughness is not far to seek; it lies in that thirst for pleasure which

not only creates a distaste for steady labor, but renders one incapable of doing the best work, and of

properly fulfilling one‘s duty. A short time ago, a case came under my observation (one of many such),

of a poor woman who was given, at her earnest appeal, a responsible and lucrative position. She had

been at her post only a few days when she began to talk of the "pleasure trips" she was going to have

now she had come to that place. She was discharged at the end of a month for negligence and

incompetence.

As two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, so the mind that is occupied with

pleasure cannot also be concentrated upon the

perfect performance of duty.

Pleasure has its own place and time, but its consideration should not be allowed to enter the mind

during those hours which should be devoted to duty. Those who, while engaged in their worldly task,

are continually dwelling upon anticipated pleasures, cannot do otherwise than bungle through their

work, or even neglect it when their pleasure seems to be at stake.

Thoroughness is completeness, perfection; it means doing a thing so well that there is nothing left to be

desired; it means doing one‘s work, if not better than anyone else can do it, at least not worse than the

best that others do. It means the exercise of much thought, the putting forth of great energy, the

persistent application of the mind to its task, the cultivation of patience, perseverance, and a high sense

of duty. An ancient teacher said, "If anything has to be done, let a man do it, let him attack it

vigorously"; and another teacher said, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."

He who lacks thoroughness in his worldly duties, will also lack the same quality in spiritual things. He

will not improve his character; will be weak and half-hearted in his religion, and will not accomplish

any good and useful end. The man who keeps one eye on worldly pleasure and the other on religion,

and who thinks he can have the advantage of both conditions, will not be thorough either in his

pleasure seeking or his religion, but will make a sorry business of both. It is better to be a whole-souled

worldling than a half-hearted religionist; better to give the entire mind to a lower thing than half of it to

a higher.

It is preferable to be thorough, even if it be in a bad or selfish direction, rather than inefficient and

squeamish in good directions, for thoroughness leads more rapidly to the development of character and

the acquisition of wisdom; it accelerates progress and unfoldment; and while it leads the bad to

something better, it spurs the good to higher and ever higher heights of usefulness and power.

6. Mind-Building and Life-Building

EVERYTHING, both in nature and the works of man, is produced by a process of building. The rock is

built up of atoms; the plant, the animal, and man are built up of cells; a house is built of bricks, and a

book is built of letters. A world is composed of a large number of forms, and a city of a large number of

houses. The arts, sciences, and institutions of a nation are built up by the efforts of individuals. The

history of a nation is the building of its deeds.

The process of building necessitates the alternate process of breaking down. Old forms that have served

their purpose are broken up, and the material of which they are composed enters into new

combinations. There is reciprocal integration and disintegration. In all compounded bodies, old cells

are ceaselessly being broken up, and new cells are formed to take their place.

The works of man also require to be continually renewed until they have become old and useless, when

they are torn down in order that some better purpose may be served. These two processes of breaking

down and building up in Nature are called death and life; in the artificial works of man they are called

destruction and restoration.

This dual process, which obtains universally in things visible, also obtains universally in things

invisible. As a body is built of cells, and a house of bricks, so a man‘s mind is built of thoughts. The

various characters of men are none other than compounds of thoughts of varying combinations. Herein

we see the deep truth of the saying, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Individual characteristics

are fixed processes of thought; that is, they are fixed in the sense that they have become such an

integral part of the character that they can be only altered or removed by a protracted effort of the will,

and by much self-discipline. Character is built in the same way as a tree or a house is built— namely,

by the ceaseless addition of new material, and that material is thought. By the aid of millions of bricks

a city is built; by the aid of millions of thoughts a mind, a character, is built.

Every man is a mind builder, whether he recognizes it or not. Every man must perforce think, and every

thought is another brick laid down in the edifice of mind. Such "brick laying" is done loosely and

carelessly by a vast number of people, the result being unstable and tottering characters that are ready

to go down under the first little gust of trouble or temptation.

Some, also, put into the building of their minds large numbers of impure thoughts; these are so many

rotten bricks that crumble away as fast as they are put in, leaving always an unfinished and unsightly

building, and one which can afford no comfort and no shelter for its possessor.

Debilitating thoughts about one‘s health, enervating thoughts concerning unlawful pleasures,

weakening thoughts of failure, and sickly thoughts of self-pity and self-praise are useless bricks with

which no substantial mind temple can be raised.

Pure thoughts, wisely chosen and well placed, are so many durable bricks which will never crumble

away, and from which a finished and beautiful building, and one which affords comfort and shelter for

its possessor, can be rapidly erected.

Bracing thoughts of strength, of confidence, of duty; inspiring thoughts of a large, free, unfettered, and

unselfish life, are useful bricks with which a substantial mind temple can be raised; and the building of

such a temple necessitates that old and useless habits of thought be broken down and destroyed.

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul! As the swift seasons roll."

Each man is the builder of himself. If he is the occupant of a jerry-built hovel of a mind that lets in the

rains of many troubles, and through which blow the keen winds of oft-recurring disappointments, let

him get to work to build a more noble mansion which will afford him better protection against those

mental elements. Trying to weakly shift the responsibility for his jerry-building on to the devil, or his

forefathers, or anything or anybody but himself, will neither add to his comfort, nor help him to build a

better habitation.

When he wakes up to a sense of his responsibility, and an approximate estimate of his power, then he

will commence to build like a true workman, and will produce a symmetrical and finished character

that will endure, and be cherished by posterity, and which, while affording a never failing protection for

himself, will continue to give shelter to many a struggling one when he has passed away.

The whole visible universe is framed on a few mathematical principles. All the wonderful works of

man in the material world have been brought about by the rigid observance of a few underlying

principles; and all that there is to the making of a successful, happy, and beautiful life, is the knowledge

and application of a few simple, root principles.

If a man is to erect a building that is to resist the fiercest storms, he must build it on a simple,

mathematical principle, or law, such as the square or the circle; if he ignores this, his edifice will topple

down even before it is finished.

Likewise, if a man is to build up a successful, strong, and exemplary life — a life that will stoutly resist

the fiercest storms of adversity and temptation — it must be framed on a few simple, undeviating moral

principles.

Four of these principles are Justice, Rectitude, Sincerity, and Kindness. These four ethical truths are to

the making of a life what the four lines of a square are to the building of a house. If a man ignores them

and thinks to obtain success and happiness and peace by injustice, trickery, and selfishness, he is in the

position of a builder who imagines he can build a strong and durable habitation while ignoring the

relative arrangement of mathematical lines, and he will, in the end, obtain only disappointment and

failure.

He may, for a time, make money, which will delude him into believing that injustice and dishonesty

pay well; but in reality his life is so weak and unstable that it is ready at any moment to fall; and when

a critical period comes, as come it must, his affairs, his reputation, and his riches crumble to ruins, and

he is buried in his own desolation.

It is totally impossible for a man to achieve a truly successful and happy life who ignores the four

moral principles enumerated, whilst the man who scrupulously observes them in all his dealings can no

more fail of success and blessedness than the earth can fail of the light and warmth of the sun so long

as it keeps to its lawful orbit; for he is working in harmony with the fundamental laws of the universe;

he is building his life on a basis which cannot be altered or overthrown, and, therefore, all that he does

will be so strong and durable, and all the parts of his life will be so coherent, harmonious, and firmly

knit that it cannot possibly be brought to ruin.

In all the universal forms which are built up by the Great Invisible and unerring Power, it will be found

that the observance of mathematical law is carried out with unfailing exactitude down to the most

minute detail. The microscope reveals the fact that the infinitely small is as perfect as the infinitely

great.

A snowflake is as perfect as a star. Likewise, in the erection of a building by man, the strictest attention

must be paid to every detail.

A foundation must first be laid, and, although it is to be buried and hidden, it must receive the greatest

care, and be made stronger than any other part of the building; then stone upon stone, brick upon brick

is carefully laid with the aid of the plumb line, until at last the building stands complete in its durability,

strength, and beauty.

Even so it is with the life of a man. He who would have a life secure and blessed, a life freed from the

miseries and failures to which so many fall victims, must carry the practice of the moral principles into

every detail of his life, into every momentary duty and trivial transaction. In every little thing he need

be thorough and honest, neglecting nothing.

To neglect or misapply any little detail— be he commercial man, agriculturist, professional man, or

artisan— is the same as neglecting a stone or a brick in a building, and it will be a source of weakness

and trouble.

The majority of those who fail and come to grief do so through neglecting the apparently insignificant

details.

It is a common error to suppose that little things can be passed by, and that the greater things are more

important, and should receive all attention; but a cursory glance at the universe, as well as a little

serious reflection on life, will teach the lesson that nothing great can exist which is not made up of

small details, and in the composition of which every detail is perfect.

He who adopts the four ethical principles as the law and base of his life, who raises the edifice of

character upon them, who in his thoughts and words and actions does not wander from them, whose

every duty and every passing transaction is performed in strict accordance with their exactions, such a

man, laying down the hidden foundation of integrity of heart securely and strongly, cannot fail to raise

up a structure which shall bring him honor; and he is building a temple in which he can repose in peace

and blessedness— even the strong and beautiful Temple of his life.

7. Cultivation of Concentration

CONCENTRATION, or the bringing of the mind to a center and keeping it there, is vitally necessary to

the accomplishment of any task. It is the father of thoroughness and the mother of excellence. As a

faculty, it is not an end in itself, but is an aid to all faculties, all work. Not a purpose in itself, it is yet a

power which serves all purposes. Like steam in mechanics, it is a dynamic force in the machinery of

the mind and the functions of life.

The faculty is a common possession, though in its perfection it is rare— just as will and reason are

common possessions, though a perfectly poised will and a comprehensive reason are rare

possessions— and the mystery which some modern mystical writers have thrown around it is entirely

superfluous.

Every successful man, in whatever direction his success may lie, practices concentration, though he

may know nothing about it as a subject of study; every time one becomes absorbed in a book or task, or

is rapt in devotion or assiduous in duty, concentration, in a greater or lesser degree, is brought into play.

Many books purporting to give instructions on concentration make its practice and acquisition an end

in itself. Than this, there is no surer nor swifter way to its destruction. The fixing of the eyes upon the

tip of the nose, upon a doorknob, a picture, a mystical symbol, or the portrait of a saint; or the centering

of the mind upon the navel, the pineal gland, or some imaginary point in space (I have seen all these

methods seriously advised in works on this subject) with the object of acquiring concentration, is like

trying to nourish the body by merely moving the jaw as in the act of eating, without taking food. Such

methods prevent the end at which they aim.

They lead towards dispersion and not concentration; towards weakness and imbecility rather than

towards power and intelligence. I have met those who have squandered, by these practices, what

measure of concentration they at first possessed, and have become the prey of a weak and wandering

mind.

Concentration is an aid to the doing of something; it is not the doing of something in itself. A ladder has

no divine knowledge, or the sweeping of a floor — without resorting to methods which have no

practical bearing on life; for what is concentration but the bringing of a well controlled mind to the

doing of that which has to be done?

He who does his work in an aimless, a hurried, or thoughtless manner, and resorts to his artificial

"concentration methods" — to his doorknob, his picture, or nasal extremity — in order to gain that

which he imagines to be some kind of mystical power — but which is a very ordinary and practical

quality — though he may drift towards insanity (and I knew one man who became insane by these

practices), he will not increase in steadiness of mind.

The great enemy of concentration — and therefore of all skill and power— is a wavering, wandering,

undisciplined value in and of itself, but only in so far as it enables us to reach something which we

could not otherwise reach. In like manner, concentration is that which enables the mind to accomplish

with ease that which it would be otherwise impossible to accomplish; but of itself it is a dead thing, and

not a living accomplishment.

Concentration is so interwoven with the uses of life that it cannot be separated from duty; and he who

tries to acquire it apart from his task, his duty, will not only fail, but will diminish, and not increase, his

mental control and executive capacity, and so render himself less and less fit to succeed in his

undertakings.

A scattered and undisciplined army would be useless. To make it effective in action and swift in victory

it must be solidly concentrated and masterfully directed. Scattered and diffused thoughts are weak and

worthless. Thoughts marshaled, commanded, and directed upon a given point, are invincible;

confusion, doubt, and difficulty give way before their masterly approach. Concentrated thought enters

largely into all successes, and informs all victories.

There is no more secret about its acquirement than about any other acquisition, for it is governed by the

underlying principle of all development, namely, practice. To be able to do a thing, you must begin to

do it, and keep on doing it until the thing is mastered. This principle prevails universally— in all arts,

sciences, trades; in all learning, conduct, religion. To be able to paint, one must paint; to know how to

use a tool skillfully, he must use the tool; to become learned, he must learn; to become wise, he must do

wise things; and to successfully concentrate his mind, he must concentrate it. But the doing is not all—

it must be done with energy and intelligence.

The beginning of concentration, then, is to go to your daily task and put your mind on it, bringing all

your intelligence and mental energy to a focus upon that which has to be done; and every time the

thoughts are found wandering aimlessly away, they should be brought promptly back to the thing in

hand.

Thus the "center" upon which you are to bring your mind to a point, is (not your pineal gland or a paint

in space), but the work which you are doing every day; and your object in thus concentrating is to be

able to do your work with smooth rapidity and consummate skill; for until you can thus do your work,

you have not gained any degree of control over the mind; you have not acquired the power of

concentration.

This powerful focusing of one‘s thought and energy and will upon the doing of things is difficult at first

as everything worth acquiring is difficult— but daily efforts, strenuously made and patiently followed

up, will soon lead to such a measure of self-control as will enable one to bring a strong and penetrating

mind to bear upon any work undertaken; a mind that will quickly comprehend all the details of the

work, and dispose of them with accuracy and dispatch.

He will thus, as his concentrative capacity increases, enlarge his usefulness in the scheme of things, and

increase his value to the world, thus inviting nobler opportunities, and opening the door to higher

duties; he will also experience the joy of a wider and fuller life.

In the process of concentration there are the four following stages:

1. Attention.

2. Contemplation.

3. Abstraction.

4. Activity in Repose.

At first the thoughts are arrested, and the mind is fixed upon the object of concentration, which is the

task in hand— this is attention. The mind is then roused into vigorous thought concerning the way of

proceeding with the task— this is contemplation.

Protracted contemplation leads to a condition of mind in which the doors of the senses are all closed

against the entrance of outside distractions, the thoughts being wrapped in, and solely and intensely

centered upon, the work in hand — this is abstraction. The mind thus centered in profound cogitation

reaches a state in which the maximum of work is accomplished with the minimum of friction— this is

activity in repose.

Attention is the first stage in all successful work. They who lack it fail in everything. Such are the lazy,

the thoughtless, the indifferent and incompetent. When attention is followed by an awakening of the

mind to serious thought, then the second stage is reached. To ensure success in all ordinary, worldly

undertakings, it is not necessary to go beyond these two stages.

They are reached, in a greater or lesser degree, by all that large army of skilled and competent workers

which carries out the work of the world in its manifold departments, and only a comparatively small

number reach the third stage of abstraction; for when abstraction is reached, we have entered the

sphere of genius.

In the first two stages, the work and the mind are separate, and the work is done more or less

laboriously, and with a degree of friction; but in the third stage, a marriage of the work with the mind

takes place, there is a fusion, a union, and the two become one: then there is a superior efficiency with

less labor and friction. In the perfection of the first two stages, the mind is objectively engaged, and is

easily drawn from its center by external sights and sounds; but when the mind has attained perfection in

abstraction, the subjective method of working is accomplished, as distinguished from the objective.

The thinker is then oblivious to the outside world, but is vividly alive in his mental operations. If

spoken to, he will not hear; and if plied with more vigorous appeals, he will bring back his mind to

outside things as one coming out of a dream; indeed, this abstraction is a kind of waking dream, but its

similarity to a dream ends with the subjective state: it does not obtain in the mental operations of that

state, in which, instead of the confusion of dreaming, there is perfect order, penetrating insight, and a

wide range of comprehension. Whoever attains to perfection in abstraction will manifest genius in the

particular work upon which his mind is centered.

Inventors, artists, poets, scientists, philosophers, and all men of genius, are men of abstraction. They

accomplish subjectively, and with ease, that which the objective workers— men who have not yet

attained beyond the second stage in concentration— cannot accomplish with the most strenuous labor.

When the fourth stage— that of activity in repose— is attained, then concentration in its perfection is

acquired. I am unable to find a single word which will fully express this dual condition of intense

activity combined with steadiness, or rest, and have therefore employed the term "activity in repose."

The term appears contradictory, but the simple illustration of a spinning top will serve to explain the

paradox. When a top spins at the maximum velocity, the friction is reduced to the minimum, and the

top assumes that condition of perfect repose which is a sight so beautiful to the eye, and so captivating

to the mind, of the schoolboy, who then says his top is "asleep."

The top is apparently motionless, but it is the rest, not of inertia, but of intense and perfectly balanced

activity. So the mind that has acquired perfect concentration is, when engaged in that intense activity of

thought which results in productive work of the highest kind, in a state of quiet poise and calm repose.

Externally, there is no apparent activity, no disturbance, and the face of a man who has acquired this

power will assume a more or less radiant calmness, and the face will be more sublimely calm when the

mind is most intensely engaged in active thought.

Each stage of concentration has its particular power. Thus the first stage, when perfected, leads to

usefulness; the second leads to skill, ability, talent; the third leads to originality and genius; while the

fourth leads to mastery and power, and makes leaders and teachers of men.

In the development of concentration, also, as in all objects of growth, the following stages embody the

preceding ones in their entirety. Thus in contemplation, attention is contained; in abstraction, both

attention and contemplation are embodied; and he who has reached the last stage, brings into play, in

the act of contemplation, all the four stages.

He who has perfected himself in concentration is able, at any moment, to bring his thoughts to a point

upon any matter, and to search into it with the strong light of an active comprehension. He can both

take a thing up and lay it down with equal deliberation. He has learned how to use his thinking faculties

to fixed purposes, and guide them towards definite ends. He is an intelligent doer of things, and not a

weak wanderer amid chaotic thought.

Decision, energy, alertness, as well as deliberation, judgment, and gravity, accompany the habit of

concentration; and that vigorous mental training which its cultivation involves, leads, through ever

increasing usefulness and success in worldly occupations, towards that higher form of concentration

called "meditation," in which the mind becomes divinely illumined, and acquires the heavenly

knowledge.

8. Practice of Meditation

WHEN aspiration is united to concentration, the result is meditation. When a man intensely desires to

reach and realize a higher, purer, and more radiant life than the merely worldly and pleasure loving life,

he engages in aspiration; and when he earnestly concentrates his thoughts upon the finding of that life,

he practices meditation.

Without intense aspiration, there can be no meditation. Lethargy and indifference are fatal to its

practice. The more intense the nature of a man, the more readily will he find meditation, and the more

successfully will he practice it. A fiery nature will most rapidly scale the heights of Truth in meditation,

when its aspirations have become sufficiently awakened.

Concentration is necessary to worldly success: meditation is necessary to spiritual success. Worldly

skill and knowledge are acquired by concentration: spiritual skill and knowledge are acquired by

meditation. By concentration a man can scale the highest heights of genius, but he cannot scale the

heavenly heights of Truth: to accomplish this, he must meditate.

By concentration a man may acquire the wonderful comprehension and vast power of a Caesar; by

meditation he may reach the divine wisdom and perfect peace of a Buddha. The perfection of

concentration is power; the perfection of meditation is wisdom.

By concentration, men acquire skill in the doing of the things of life — in science, art, trade, etc.,— but

by meditation, they acquire skill in life itself; in right living, enlightenment, wisdom, etc. Saints, sages,

saviors— wise men and divine teachers — are the finished products of holy meditation.

The four stages in concentration are brought into play in meditation; the difference between the two

powers being one of direction, and not of nature. Meditation is therefore spiritual concentration; the

bringing of the mind to a focus in its search for the divine knowledge, the divine life; the intense

dwelling, in thought, on Truth.

Thus a man aspires to know and realize, above all things else, the Truth; he then gives attention to

conduct, to life, to self-purification: giving attention to these things, he passes into serious

contemplation of the facts, problems, and mystery of life: thus contemplating, he comes to love Truth

so fully and intensely as to become wholly absorbed in it, the mind is drawn away from its wanderings

in a multitude of desires, and, solving one by one the problems of life, realizes that profound union

with Truth which is the state of abstraction; and thus absorbed in Truth, there is that balance and poise

of character, that divine action in repose, which is the abiding calm and peace of an emancipated and

enlightened mind.

Meditation is more difficult to practice than concentration because it involves a much more severe self-

discipline than that which obtains in concentration. A man can practice concentration without purifying

his heart and life, whereas the process of purification is inseparable from meditation.

The object of meditation is divine enlightenment, the attainment of Truth, and is therefore interwoven

with practical purity and righteousness. Thus while, at first, the time spent in actual meditation is short

— perhaps only half an hour in the early morning — the knowledge gained in that half hour of vivid

aspiration and concentrated thought is embodied in practice during the whole day.

In meditation, therefore, the entire life of a man is involved; and as he advances in its practice he

becomes more and more fitted to perform the duties of life in the circumstances in which he may be

placed, for he becomes stronger, holier, calmer, and wiser. The principle of meditation is twofold,

namely:

1. Purification of the heart by repetitive thought on pure things.

2. Attainment of divine knowledge by embodying such purity in practical life.

Man is a thought being, and his life and character are determined by the thoughts in which he

habitually dwells. By practice, association, and habit, thoughts tend to repeat themselves with greater

and greater ease and frequency; and so "fix" the character in a given direction by producing that

automatic action which is called "habit."

By daily dwelling upon pure thoughts, the man of meditation forms the habit of pure and enlightened

thinking which leads to pure and enlightened actions and well performed duties. By the ceaseless

repetition of pure thoughts, he at last becomes one with those thoughts, and is a purified being,

manifesting his attainment in pure actions, in a serene and wise life.

The majority of men live in a series of conflicting desires, passions, emotions, and speculations, and

there are restlessness, uncertainty, and sorrow; but when a man begins to train his mind in meditation,

he gradually gains control over this inward conflict by bringing his thoughts to a focus upon a central

principle.

In this way the old habits of impure and erroneous thought and action are broken up, and the new habits

of pure and enlightened thought and action are formed; the man becomes more and more reconciled to

Truth, and there is increasing harmony and insight, a growing perfection and peace.

A powerful and lofty aspiration towards Truth is always accompanied with a keen sense of the sorrow

and brevity and mystery of life, and until this condition of mind is reached, meditation is impossible.

Merely musing, or whiling away the time in idle dreaming (habits to which the word meditation is

frequently applied), are very far removed from meditation, in the lofty spiritual sense which we attach

to that condition.

It is easy to mistake reverie for meditation. This is a fatal error which must be avoided by one striving

to meditate. The two must not be confounded. Reverie is a loose dreaming into which a man falls;

meditation is a strong, purposeful thinking into which a man rises. Reverie is easy and pleasurable;

meditation is at first difficult and irksome.

Reverie thrives in indolence and luxury; meditation arises from strenuousness and discipline. Reverie is

first alluring, then sensuous, and then sensual. Meditation is first forbidding, then profitable, and then

peaceful. Reverie is dangerous; it undermines self-control. Meditation is protective; it establishes self-

control.

There are certain signs by which one can know whether he is engaging in reverie or meditation.

The indications of reverie are:

1. A desire to avoid exertion.

2. A desire to experience the pleasures of dreaming.

3. An increasing distaste for one‘s worldly duties.

4. A desire to shirk one‘s worldly responsibilities.

5. Fear of consequences.

6. A wish to get money with as little effort as possible.

7. Lack of self-control.

The indications of meditation are:

1. Increase of both physical and mental energy.

2. A strenuous striving after wisdom.

3. A decrease of irksomeness in the performance of duty.

4. A fixed determination to faithfully fulfill all worldly responsibilities.

5. Freedom from fear.

6. Indifference to riches.

7. Possession of self-control.

There are certain times, places, and conditions in and under which it is impossible to meditate, others

wherein it is difficult to meditate, and others wherein meditation is rendered more accessible; and

these, which should be known and carefully observed, are as follows:

Times, Places, and Conditions in which Meditation is Impossible:

1. At, or immediately after, meals.

2. In places of pleasure.

3. In crowded places.

4. While walking rapidly.

5. While lying in bed in the morning.

6. While smoking.

7. While lying on a couch or bed for physical or mental relaxation.

Times, Places and Conditions in which Meditation is Difficult:

1. At night.

2. In a luxuriously furnished room.

3. While sitting on a soft, yielding seat.

4. While wearing gay clothing.

5. When in company.

6. When the body is weary.

7. If the body is given too much food.

Times, Places, and Conditions in which it is Best to Meditate:

1. Very early in the morning.

2. Immediately before meals.

3. In solitude.

4. In the open air or in a plainly furnished room.

5. While sitting on a hard seat.

6. When the body is strong and vigorous.

7. When the body is modestly and plainly clothed.

It will be seen by the foregoing instructions that ease, luxury, and indulgence (which induce reverie)

render meditation difficult, and when strongly pronounced make it impossible; while strenuousness,

discipline, and self-denial (which dispel reverie), make meditation comparatively easy. The body, too,

should be neither overfed nor starved; neither in rags nor flauntingly clothed. It should not be tired, but

should be at its highest point of energy and strength, as the holding of the mind to a concentrated train

of subtle and lofty thought requires a high degree of both physical and mental energy.

Aspiration can often best be aroused, and the mind renewed in meditation, by the mental repetition of a

lofty precept, a beautiful sentence or a verse of poetry. Indeed, the mind that is ready for meditation

will instinctively adopt this practice. Mere mechanical repetition is worthless, and even a hindrance.

The words repeated must be so applicable to one‘s own condition that they are dwelt upon lovingly and

with concentrated devotion. In this way aspiration and concentration harmoniously combine to

produce, without undue strain, the state of meditation. All the conditions above stated are of the utmost

importance in the early stages of meditation, and should be carefully noted and duly observed by all

who are striving to acquire the practice; and those who faithfully follow the instructions, and who strive

and persevere, will not fail to gather in, in due season, the harvest of purity, wisdom, bliss, and peace;

and will surely eat of the sweet fruits of holy meditation.

9. The Power of Purpose

DISPERSION is weakness; concentration is power. Destruction is a scattering, preservation a uniting,

process. Things are useful and thoughts are powerful in the measure that their parts are strongly and

intelligently concentrated. Purpose is highly concentrated thought.

All the mental energies are directed to the attainment of an object, and obstacles which intervene

between the thinker and the object are, one after another, broken down and overcome. Purpose is the

keystone in the temple of achievement. It binds and holds together in a complete whole that which

would otherwise lie scattered and useless.

Empty whims, ephemeral fancies, vague desires, and half-hearted resolutions have no place in purpose.

In the sustained determination to accomplish there is an invincible power which swallows up all

inferior considerations, and marches direct to victory.

All successful men are men of purpose. They hold fast to an idea, a project, a plan, and will not let it

go; they cherish it, brood upon it, tend and develop it; and when assailed by difficulties, they refuse to

be beguiled into surrender; indeed, the intensity of the purpose increases with the growing magnitude

of the obstacles encountered.

The men who have molded the destinies of humanity have been men mighty of purpose. Like the

Roman laying his road, they have followed along a well defined path, and have refused to swerve aside

even when torture and death confronted them. The Great Leaders of the race are the mental road

makers, and mankind follows in the intellectual and spiritual paths which they have carved out and

beaten.

Great is the power of purpose. To know how great, let a man study it in the lives of those whose

influence has shaped the ends of nations and directed the destinies of the world. In an Alexander, a

Caesar, or a Napoleon, we see the power of purpose when it is directed in worldly and personal

channels; in a Confucius, a Buddha, or a Christ, we perceive its vaster power when its course is along

heavenly and impersonal paths.

Purpose goes with intelligence. There are lesser and greater purposes according with degrees of

intelligence. A great mind will always be great of purpose. A weak intelligence will be without purpose.

A drifting mind argues a measure of undevelopment.

What can resist an unshakable purpose? What can stand against it or turn it aside? Inert matter yields to

a living force, and circumstance succumbs to the power of purpose. Truly, the man of unlawful purpose

will, in achieving his ends, destroy himself, but the man of good and lawful purpose cannot fail. It only

needs that he daily renew the fire and energy of his fixed resolve, to consummate his object.

The weak man, who grieves because he is misunderstood, will not greatly achieve; the vain man, who

steps aside from his resolve in order to please others and gain their approbation, will not highly

achieve; the double minded man, who thinks to compromise his purpose, will fail.

The man of fixed purpose who, whether misunderstandings and foul accusations, or flatteries and fair

promises, rain upon him, does not yield a fraction of his resolve, is the man of excellence and

achievement; of success, greatness, power.

Hindrances stimulate the man of purpose; difficulties nerve him to renewed exertion; mistakes, losses,

pains, do not subdue him; and failures are steps in the ladder of success, for he is ever conscious of the

certainty of final achievement.

All things at last yield to the silent, irresistible, all conquering energy of purpose.

"Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not whined nor cried aloud;

Under the bludgeoning of chance

My head is bloody but unbowed.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishment the scroll;

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul."

10. The Joy of Accomplishment

JOY is always the accompaniment of a task successfully accomplished. An undertaking completed, or a

piece of work done, always brings rest and satisfaction. "When a man has done his duty, he is light-

hearted and happy," says Emerson; and no matter how insignificant the task may appear, the doing of it

faithfully and with whole-souled energy always results in cheerfulness and peace of mind.

Of all miserable men, the shirker is the most miserable. Thinking to find ease and happiness in

avoiding difficult duties and necessary tasks, which require the expenditure of labor and exertion, his

mind is always uneasy and disturbed, he becomes burdened with an inward sense of shame, and forfeits

manliness and self-respect.

"He who will not work according to his faculty, let him perish according to his necessity," says Carlyle;

and it is a moral law that the man who avoids duty, and does not work to the full extent of his capacity,

does actually perish, first in his character and last in his body and circumstances. Life and action are

synonymous, and immediately a man tries to escape exertion, either physical or mental, he has

commenced to decay.

On the other hand, the energetic increase in life by the full exercise of their powers, by overcoming

difficulties, and by bringing to completion tasks which coiled for the strenuous use of mind or muscle.

How happy is a child when a school lesson, long labored over, is mastered at last! The athlete, who has

trained his body through long months or years of discipline and strain, is richly blessed in his increased

health and strength; and is met with the rejoicings of his friends when he carries home the prize from

the field of contest. After many years of ungrudging toil, the heart of the scholar is gladdened with the

advantages and powers which learning bestows.

The business man, grappling incessantly with difficulties and drawbacks, is amply repaid in the happy

assurance of well earned success; and the horticulturist, vigorously contending with the stubborn soil,

sits down at last to eat of the fruits of his labor.

Every successful accomplishment, even in worldly things, is repaid with its own measure of joy; and in

spiritual things, the joy which supervenes upon the perfection of purpose is sure, deep and abiding.

Great is the heartfelt joy (albeit ineffable) when, after innumerable and apparently unsuccessful

attempts, some ingrained fault of character is at last cast out to trouble its erstwhile victim and the

world no more.

The striver after virtue — he who is engaged in the holy task of building up a noble character — tastes,

at every step of conquest over self, a joy which does not again leave him, but which becomes an

integral part of his spiritual nature.

All life is a struggle; both without and within there are conditions against which man must contend; his

very existence is a series of efforts and accomplishments, and his right to remain among men as a

useful unit of humanity depends upon the measure of his capacity for wrestling successfully with the

elements of nature without, or with the enemies of virtue and truth within.

It is demanded of man that he shall continue to strive after better things, after greater perfection, after

higher and still higher achievements; and in accordance with the measure of his obedience to this

demand, does the angel of joy wait upon his footsteps and minister unto him; for he who is anxious to

learn, eager to know, and who puts forth efforts to accomplish, finds the joy which eternally sings at the

heart of the universe.

First in little things, then in greater, and then in greater still, must man strive; until at last he is prepared

to make the supreme effort, and strive for the accomplishment of Truth, succeeding in which, he will

realize the eternal joy.

The price of life is effort; the acme of effort is accomplishment; the reward of accomplishment is joy.

Blessed is the man who strives against his own selfishness; he will taste in its fullness the joy of

accomplishment.

From poverty to power; or, the realization of prosperity and

peace. By James Allen.

Content

• Foreword

• Part I: The path to prosperity

1. The lesson of evil

2. The world a reflex of mental states

3. The way out of undesirable conditions

4. The silent power of thought: controlling and directing one‘s forces

5. The secret of health, success, and power

6. The secret of abounding happiness

7. The realization of prosperity

• Part II: The way of peace

1. The power of meditation

2. The two masters, self and truth

3. The acquirement of spiritual power

4. The realization of selfless love

5. Entering into the infinite

6. Saints, sages and saviors: the law of service

7. The realization of perfect peace

Foreword

I looked around upon the world, and saw that it was shadowed by sorrow and scorched by the fierce

fires of suffering. And I looked for the cause. I looked around, but could not find it; I looked in books,

but could not find it; I looked within, and found there both the cause and the self-made nature of that

cause. I looked again, and deeper, and found the remedy.

I found one Law, the Law of Love; one Life, the Life of adjustment to that Law; one Truth, the truth of

a conquered mind and a quiet and obedient heart. And I dreamed of writing a book which should help

men and women, whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned, worldly or unworldly, to find within

themselves the source of all success, all happiness, all accomplishment, all truth. And the dream

remained with me, and at last became substantial; and now I send it forth into the world on its mission

of healing and blessedness, knowing that it cannot fail to reach the homes and hearts of those who are

waiting and ready to receive it.

James Allen.

Part I: The path of prosperity

1. The lesson of evil

Unrest and pain and sorrow are the shadows of life. There is no heart in all the world that has not felt

the sting of pain, no mind has not been tossed upon the dark waters of trouble, no eye that has not wept

the hot blinding tears of unspeakable anguish.

There is no household where the Great Destroyers, disease and death, have not entered, severing heart

from heart, and casting over all the dark pall of sorrow. In the strong, and apparently indestructible

meshes of evil all are more or less fast caught, and pain, unhappiness, and misfortune wait upon

mankind.

With the object of escaping, or in some way mitigating this overshadowing gloom, men and women

rush blindly into innumerable devices, pathways by which they fondly hope to enter into a happiness

which will not pass away.

Such are the drunkard and the harlot, who revel in sensual excitements; such is the exclusive aesthete,

who shuts himself out from the sorrows of the world, and surrounds himself with enervating luxuries;

such is he who thirsts for wealth or fame, and subordinates all things to the achievement of that object;

and such are they who seek consolation in the performance of religious rites.

And to all the happiness sought seems to come, and the soul, for a time, is lulled into a sweet security,

and an intoxicating forgetfulness of the existence of evil; but the day of disease comes at last, or some

great sorrow, temptation, or misfortune breaks suddenly in on the unfortified soul, and the fabric of its

fancied happiness is torn to shreds.

So over the head of every personal joy hangs the Damocletian sword of pain, ready, at any moment, to

fall and crush the soul of him who is unprotected by knowledge.

The child cries to be a man or woman; the man and woman sigh for the lost felicity of childhood. The

poor man chafes under the chains of poverty by which he is bound, and the rich man often lives in fear

of poverty, or scours the world in search of an elusive shadow he calls happiness.

Sometimes the soul feels that it has found a secure peace and happiness in adopting a certain religion,

in embracing an intellectual philosophy, or in building up an intellectual or artistic ideal; but some

overpowering temptation proves the religion to be inadequate or insufficient; the theoretical philosophy

is found to be a useless prop; or in a moment, the idealistic statue upon which the devotee has for years

been laboring, is shattered into fragments at his feet.

Is there, then, no way of escape from pain and sorrow? Are there no means by which bonds of evil may

be broken? Is permanent happiness, secure prosperity, and abiding peace a foolish dream?

No, there is a way, and I speak it with gladness, by which evil can be slain for ever; there is a process

by which disease, poverty, or any adverse condition or circumstance can be put on one side never to

return; there is a method by which a permanent prosperity can be secured, free from all fear of the

return of adversity, and there is a practice by which unbroken and unending peace and bliss can be

partaken of and realized.

And the beginning of the way which leads to this glorious realization is the acquirement of a right

understanding of the nature of evil.

It is not sufficient to deny or ignore evil; it must be understood. It is not enough to pray to God to

remove the evil; you must find out why it is there, and what lesson it has for you.

It is of no avail to fret and fume and chafe at the chains which bind you; you must know why and how

you are bound. Therefore, reader, you must get outside yourself, and must begin to examine and

understand yourself.

You must cease to be a disobedient child in the school of experience and must begin to learn, with

humility and patience, the lessons that are set for your edification and ultimate perfection; for evil,

when rightly understood, is found to be, not an unlimited power or principle in the universe, but a

passing phase of human experience, and it therefore becomes a teacher to those who are willing to

learn.

Evil is not an abstract some thing outside yourself; it is an experience in your own heart, and by

patiently examining and rectifying your heart you will be gradually led into the discovery of the origin

and nature of evil, which will necessarily be followed by its complete eradication.

All evil is corrective and remedial, and is therefore not permanent. It is rooted in ignorance, ignorance

of the true nature and relation of things, and so long as we remain in that state of ignorance, we remain

subject to evil.

There is no evil in the universe which is not the result of ignorance, and which would not, if we were

ready and willing to learn its lesson, lead us to higher wisdom, and then vanish away. But men remain

in evil, and it does not pass away because men are not willing or prepared to learn the lesson which it

came to teach them.

I knew a child who, every night when its mother took it to bed, cried to be allowed to play with the

candle; and one night, when the mother was off guard for a moment, the child took hold of the candle;

the inevitable result followed, and the child never wished to play with the candle again.

By its one foolish act it learned, and learned perfectly the lesson of obedience, and entered into the

knowledge that fire burns. And, this incident is a complete illustration of the nature, meaning, and

ultimate result of all sin and evil.

As the child suffered through its own ignorance of the real nature of fire, so older children suffer

through their ignorance of the real nature of the things which they weep for and strive after, and which

harm them when they are secured; the only difference being that in the latter case the ignorance and

evil are more deeply rooted and obscure.

Evil has always been symbolized by darkness, and Good by light, and hidden within the symbol is

contained the perfect interpretation, the reality; for, just as light always floods the universe, and

darkness is only a mere speck or shadow cast by a small body intercepting a few rays of the illimitable

light, so the Light of the Supreme Good is the positive and life-giving power which floods the universe,

and evil the insignificant shadow cast by the self that intercepts and shuts off the illuminating rays

which strive for entrance.

When night folds the world in its black impenetrable mantle, no matter how dense the darkness, it

covers but the small space of half our little planet, while the whole universe is ablaze with living light,

and every soul knows that it will awake in the light in the morning.

Know, then, that when the dark night of sorrow, pain, or misfortune settles down upon your soul, and

you stumble along with weary and uncertain steps, that you are merely intercepting your own personal

desires between yourself and the boundless light of joy and bliss, and the dark shadow that covers you

is cast by none and nothing but yourself.

And just as the darkness without is but a negative shadow, an unreality which comes from nowhere,

goes to nowhere, and has no abiding dwelling place, so the darkness within is equally a negative

shadow passing over the evolving and Lightborn soul.

―But,‖ I fancy I hear someone say, ―why pass through the darkness of evil at all?‖ Because, by

ignorance, you have chosen to do so, and because, by doing so, you may understand both good and

evil, and may the more appreciate the light by having passed through the darkness.

As evil is the direct outcome of ignorance, so, when the lessons of evil are fully learned, ignorance

passes away, and wisdom takes its place. But as a disobedient child refuses to learn its lessons at

school, so it is possible to refuse to learn the lessons of experience, and thus to remain in continual

darkness, and to suffer continually recurring punishments in the form of disease, disappointment, and

sorrow.

He, therefore, who would shake himself free of the evil which encompasses him, must be willing and

ready to learn, and must be prepared to undergo that disciplinary process without which no grain of

wisdom or abiding happiness and peace can be secured.

A man may shut himself up in a dark room, and deny that the light exists, but it is everywhere without,

and darkness exists only in his own little room.

So you may shut out the light of Truth, or you may begin to pull down the walls of prejudice, self-

seeking and error which you have built around yourself, and so let in the glorious and omnipresent

Light.

By earnest self-examination strive to realize, and not merely hold as a theory, that evil is a passing

phase, a self-created shadow; that all your pains, sorrows and misfortunes have come to you by a

process of undeviating and absolutely perfect law; have come to you because you deserve and require

them, and that by first enduring, and then understanding them, you may be made stronger, wiser,

nobler.

When you have fully entered into this realization, you will be in a position to mould your own

circumstances, to transmute all evil into good and to weave, with a master hand, the fabric of your

destiny.

What of the night, O Watchman! see‘st thou yet

The glimmering dawn upon the mountain heights,

The golden Herald of the Light of lights,

Are his fair feet upon the hilltops set?

Cometh he yet to chase away the gloom,

And with it all the demons of the Night?

Strike yet his darting rays upon thy sight?

Hear‘st thou his voice, the sound of error‘s doom?

The Morning cometh, lover of the Light;

Even now He gilds with gold the mountain‘s brow,

Dimly I see the path whereon even now

His shining feet are set toward the Night.

Darkness shall pass away, and all the things

That love the darkness, and that hate the Light

Shall disappear for ever with the Night:

Rejoice! for thus the speeding Herald sings.

2. The world a reflex of mental states

What you are, so is your world. Everything in the universe is resolved into your own inward

experience. It matters little what is without, for it is all a reflection of your own state of consciousness.

It matters everything what you are within, for everything without will be mirrored and colored

accordingly.

All that you positively know is contained in your own experience; all that you ever will know must

pass through the gateway of experience, and so become part of yourself.

Your own thoughts, desires, and aspirations comprise your world, and, to you, all that there is in the

universe of beauty and joy and bliss, or of ugliness and sorrow and pain, is contained within yourself.

By your own thoughts you make or mar your life, your world, your universe, As you build within by

the power of thought, so will your outward life and circumstances shape themselves accordingly.

Whatsoever you harbor in the inmost chambers of your heart will, sooner or later by the inevitable law

of reaction, shape itself in your outward life.

The soul that is impure, sordid and selfish, is gravitating with unerring precision toward misfortune and

catastrophe; the soul that is pure, unselfish, and noble is gravitating with equal precision toward

happiness and prosperity.

Every soul attracts its own, and nothing can possibly come to it that does not belong to it. To realize

this is to recognize the universality of Divine Law.

The incidents of every human life, which both make and mar, are drawn to it by the quality and power

of its own inner thought-life. Every soul is a complex combination of gathered experiences and

thoughts, and the body is but an improvised vehicle for its manifestation.

What, therefore, your thoughts are, that is your real self; and the world around, both animate and

inanimate, wears the aspect with which your thoughts clothe it.

―All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of

our thoughts.‖ Thus said Buddha, and it therefore follows that if a man is happy, it is because he dwells

in happy thoughts; if miserable, because he dwells in despondent and debilitating thoughts,

Whether one be fearful or fearless, foolish or wise, troubled or serene, within that soul lies the cause of

its own state or states, and never without. And now I seem to hear a chorus of voices exclaim, ―But do

you really mean to say that outward circumstances do not affect our minds?‖ I do not say that, but I say

this, and know it to be an infallible truth, that circumstances can only affect you in so far as you allow

them to do so.

You are swayed by circumstances because you have not a right understanding of the nature, use, and

power of thought.

You believe (and upon this little word belief hang all our sorrows and joys) that outward things have

the power to make or mar your life; by so doing you submit to those outward things, confess that you

are their slave, and they your unconditional master; by so doing, you invest them with a power which

they do not, of themselves, possess, and you succumb, in reality, not to the mere circumstances, but to

the gloom or gladness, the fear or hope, the strength or weakness, which your thought-sphere has

thrown around them.

I knew two men who, at an early age, lost the hard-earned savings of years. One was very deeply

troubled, and gave way to chagrin, worry, and despondency.

The other, on reading in his morning paper that the bank in which his money was deposited had

hopelessly failed, and that he had lost all, quietly and firmly remarked, ‗‘Well, it‘s gone, and trouble

and worry won‘t bring it back, but hard work will.‖

He went to work with renewed vigor, and rapidly became prosperous, while the former man,

continuing to mourn the loss of his money, and to grumble at his ‗‘bad luck,‖ remained the sport and

tool of adverse circumstances, in reality of his own weak and slavish thoughts.

The loss of money was a curse to the one because he clothed the event with dark and dreary thoughts; it

was a blessing to the other, because he threw around it thoughts of strength, of hope, and renewed

endeavor.

If circumstances had the power to bless or harm, they would bless and harm all men alike, but the fact

that the same circumstances will be alike good and bad to different souls proves that the good or bad is

not in the circumstance, but only in the mind of him that encounters it.

When you begin to realize this you will begin to control your thoughts, to regulate and discipline your

mind, and to rebuild the inward temple of your soul, eliminating all useless and superfluous material,

and incorporating into your being thoughts alone of joy and serenity, of strength and life, of

compassion and love, of beauty and immortality; and as you do this you will become joyful and serene,

strong and healthy, compassionate and loving, and beautiful with the beauty of immortality.

And as we clothe events with the drapery of our own thoughts, so likewise do we clothe the objects of

the visible world around us, and where one sees harmony and beauty, another sees revolting ugliness.

An enthusiastic naturalist was one day roaming the country lanes in pursuit of his hobby, and during his

rambles came upon a pool of brackish water near a farmyard.

As he proceeded to fill a small bottle with the water for the purpose of examination under the

microscope, he dilated, with more enthusiasm than discretion, to an uncultivated son of the plough who

stood close by, upon the hidden and innumerable wonders contained in the pool, and concluded by

saying, ‗‘Yes, my friend, within this pool is contained a hundred, nay, a million universes, had we but

the sense or the instrument by which we could apprehend them.‖ And the unsophisticated one

ponderously remarked, "I know the water be full o‘ tadpoles, but they be easy to catch.‖

Where the naturalist, his mind stored with the knowledge of natural facts, saw beauty, harmony, and

hidden glory, the mind unenlightened upon those things saw only an offensive mud-puddle.

The wild flower which the casual wayfarer thoughtlessly tramples upon is, to the spiritual eye of the

poet, an angelic messenger from the invisible.

To the many, the ocean is but a dreary expanse of water on which ships sail and are sometimes

wrecked; to the soul of the musician it is a living thing, and he hears, in all its changing moods, divine

harmonies.

Where the ordinary mind sees disaster and confusion, the mind of the philosopher sees the most perfect

sequence of cause and effect, and where the materialist sees nothing but endless death, the mystic sees

pulsating and eternal life.

And as we clothe both events and objects with our own thoughts, so likewise do we clothe the souls of

others in the garments of our thoughts.

The suspicious believe everybody to be suspicious; the Liar feels secure in the thought that he is not so

foolish as to believe that there is such a phenomenon as a strictly truthful person; the envious see envy

in every soul; the miser thinks everybody is eager to get his money; he who has subordinated

conscience in the making of his wealth, sleeps with a revolver under his pillow, wrapped in the

delusion that the world is full of conscienceless people who are eager to rob him, and the abandoned

sensualist looks upon the saint as a hypocrite.

On the other hand, those who dwell in loving thoughts, see that in all which calls forth their love and

sympathy; the trusting and honest are not troubled by suspicions; the good-natured and charitable who

rejoice at the good fortune of others, scarcely know what envy means; and he who has realized the

Divine within himself recognizes it in all beings, even in the beasts.

And men and women are confirmed in their mental outlook because of the fact that, by the law of cause

and effect, they attract to themselves that which they send forth, and so come in contact with people

similar to themselves.

The old adage, ―Birds of a feather flock together,‖ has a deeper significance than is generally attached

to it, for in the thought-world as in the world of matter, each clings to its kind.

Do you wish for kindness? Be kind.

Do you ask for truth? Be true.

What you give of yourself you find;

Your world is a reflex of you.

If you are one of those who are praying for, and looking forward to, a happier world beyond the grave,

here is a message of gladness for you, you may enter into and realize that happy world now; it fills the

whole universe, and it is within you, waiting for you to find, acknowledge, and possess. Said one who

knew the inner laws of Being,‖

When men shall say Io here, or Io there, go not after them; the kingdom of God is within you.‖

What you have to do is to believe this, simply believe it with a mind unshadowed by doubt, and then

meditate upon it till you understand it.

You will then begin to purify and to build your inner world, and as you proceed, passing from

revelation to revelation, from realization to realization, you will discover the utter powerlessness of

outward things beside the magic potency of a self-governed soul.

If thou would‘st right the world,

And banish all its evils and its woes,

Make its wild places bloom,

And its drear deserts blossom as the rose,-

Then right thyself.

If thou would‘st turn the world

From its long, lone captivity in sin,

Restore all broken hearts,

Slay grief, and let sweet consolation in,-

Turn thou thyself.

If thou would‘st cure the world

Of its long sickness, end its grief and pain;

Bring in all-healing joy,

And give to the afflicted rest again,-

Then cure thyself.

If thou would‘st wake the world

Out of its dream of death and dark‘ning strife,

Bring it to Love and Peace,

And Light and brightness of immortal Life,-

Wake thou thyself.

3. The way out of undesirable conditions

Having seen and realized that evil is but a passing shadow thrown, by the intercepting self, across the

transcendent Form of the Eternal Good, and that the world is a mirror in which each sees a reflection of

himself, we now ascend, by firm and easy steps, to that plane of perception whereon is seen and

realized the Vision of the Law.

With this realization comes the knowledge that everything is included in a ceaseless interaction of

cause and effect, and that nothing can possibly be divorced from law.

From the most trivial thought, word, or act of man, up to the groupings of the celestial bodies, law

reigns supreme. No arbitrary condition can, even for one moment, exist, for such a condition would be

a denial and an annihilation of law.

Every condition of life is, therefore, bound up in an orderly and harmonious sequence, and the secret

and cause of every condition is contained within itself, The law, ―Whatsoever a man sows that shall he

also reap,‖ is inscribed in flaming letters upon the portal of Eternity, and none can deny it, none can

cheat it, none can escape it.

He who puts his hand in the fire must suffer the burning until such time as it has worked itself out, and

neither curses nor prayers can avail to alter it.

And precisely the same law governs the realm of mind. Hatred, anger, jealousy, envy, lust,

covetousness, all these are fires which bum, and whoever even so much as touches them must suffer

the torments of burning.

All these conditions of mind are rightly called ―evil,‖ for they are the efforts of the soul to subvert, in

its ignorance, the law, an they, therefore, lead to chaos and confusion within, and are sooner or later

actualized in the outward circumstances as disease, failure, and misfortune, coupled with grief, pain,

and despair.

Whereas love, gentleness, good-will, purity, are cooling airs which breathe peace upon the soul that

woes them, and, being in harmony with the Eternal Law, they become actualized in the form of health,

peaceful surroundings, and undeviating success and good fortune.

A thorough understanding of this Great Law which permeates the universe leads to the acquirement of

that state of mind known as obedience.

To know that justice, harmony, and love are supreme in the universe is likewise to know that all

adverse and painful conditions are the result of our own disobedience to that Law.

Such knowledge leads to strength and power, and it is upon such knowledge alone that a true life and

an enduring success and happiness can be built.

To be patient under all circumstances, and to accept all conditions as necessary factors in your training,

is to rise superior to all painful conditions, and to overcome them with an overcoming which is sure,

and which leaves no fear of their return, for by the power of obedience to law they are utterly slain.

Such an obedient one is working in harmony with the law, has in fact, identified himself with the law,

and whatsoever he conquers he conquers for ever, whatsoever he builds can never be destroyed.

The cause of all power, as of all weakness, is within; the secret of all happiness as of all misery is

likewise within.

There is no progress apart from unfoldment within, and no sure foothold of prosperity or peace except

by orderly advancement in knowledge.

You say you are chained by circumstances; you cry out for better opportunities, for a wider scope, for

improved physical conditions, and perhaps you inwardly curse the fate that binds you hand and foot.

It is for you that I write; it is to you that I speak. Listen, and let my words burn themselves into your

heart, for that which I say to you is truth:

You may bring about that improved condition in your outward life which you desire, if you will

unswervingly resolve to improve your inner life.

I know this pathway looks barren at its commencement (truth always does, it is only error and delusion

which are at first inviting and fascinating,) but if you undertake to walk it; if you perseveringly

discipline your mind, eradicating your weaknesses, and allowing your soul-forces and spiritual powers

to unfold themselves, you will be astonished at the magical changes which will be brought about in

your outward life.

As you proceed, golden opportunities will be strewn across your path, and the power and judgment to

properly utilize them will spring up within you. Genial friends will come unbidden to you; sympathetic

souls will be drawn to you as the needle is to the magnet; and books and all outward aids that you

require will come to you unsought.

Perhaps the chains of poverty hang heavily upon you, and you are friendless and alone, and you long

with an intense longing that your load may be lightened; but the load continues, and you seem to be

enveloped in an ever-increasing darkness.

Perhaps you complain, you bewail your lot; you blame your birth, your parents, your employer, or the

unjust Powers who have bestowed upon you so undeservedly poverty and hardship, and upon another

affluence and ease.

Cease your complaining and fretting; none of these things which you blame are the cause of your

poverty; the cause is within yourself, and where the cause is, there is the remedy.

The very fact that you are a complainer, shows that you deserve your lot; shows that you lack that faith

which is the ground of all effort and progress.

There is no room for a complainer in a universe of law, and worry is soul-suicide. By your very attitude

of mind you are strengthening the chains which bind you, and are drawing about you the darkness by

which you are enveloped, Alter your outlook upon life, and your outward life will alter.

Build yourself up in the faith and knowledge, and make yourself worthy of better surroundings and

wider opportunities. Be sure, first of all, that you are making the best of what you have.

Do not delude yourself into supposing that you can step into greater advantages whilst overlooking

smaller ones, for if you could, the advantage would be impermanent and you would quickly fall back

again in order to learn the lesson which you had neglected.

As the child at school must master one standard before passing onto the next, so, before you can have

that greater good which you so desire, must you faithfully employ that which you already possess.

The parable of the talents is a beautiful story illustrative of this truth, for does it not plainly show that if

we misuse, neglect, or degrade that which we possess, be it ever so mean and insignificant, even that

little will be taken from us, for, by our conduct we show that we are unworthy of it.

Perhaps you are living in a small cottage, and are surrounded by unhealthy and vicious influences.

You desire a larger and more sanitary residence. Then you must fit yourself for such a residence by first

of all making your cottage as far as possible a little paradise. Keep it spotlessly clean. Make it look as

pretty and sweet as your limited means will allow. Cook your plain food with all care, and arrange your

humble table as tastefully as you possibly can.

If you cannot afford a carpet, let your rooms be carpeted with smiles and welcomes, fastened down

with the nails of kind words driven in with the hammer of

patience. Such a carpet will not fade in the sun, and constant use will never wear it away.

By so ennobling your present surroundings you will rise above them, and above the need of them, and

at the right time you will pass on into the better house and surroundings which have all along been

waiting for you, and which you have fitted yourself to occupy.

Perhaps you desire more time for thought and effort, and feel that your hours of labor are too hard and

long. Then see to it that you are utilizing to the fullest possible extent what little spare time you have.

It is useless to desire more time, if you are already wasting what little you have; for you would only

grow more indolent and indifferent.

Even poverty and lack of time and leisure are not the evils that you imagine they are, and if they hinder

you in your progress, it is because you have clothed them in your own weaknesses, and the evil that

you see in them is really in yourself. Endeavor to fully and completely realize that in so far as you

shape and mould your mind, you are the maker of your destiny, and as, by the transmuting power of

self-discipline you realize this more and more, you will come to see that these so-called evils may be

converted into blessings.

You will then utilize your poverty for the cultivation of patience, hope and courage; and your lack of

time in the gaining of promptness of action and decision of mind, by seizing the precious moments as

they present themselves for your acceptance.

As in the rankest soil the most beautiful flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of poverty the choicest

flowers of humanity have developed and bloomed.

Where there are difficulties to cope with, and unsatisfactory conditions to overcome, there virtue most

flourishes and manifests its glory.

It may be that you are in the employ of a tyrannous master or mistress, and you feel that you are

harshly treated. Look upon this also as necessary to your training. Return your employer‘s unkindness

with gentleness and forgiveness.

Practice unceasingly patience and self-control. Turn the disadvantage to account by utilizing it for the

gaining of mental and spiritual strength, and by your silent example and influence you will thus be

teaching your employer, will be helping him to grow ashamed of his conduct, and will, at the same

time, be lifting yourself up to that height of spiritual attainment by which you will be enabled to step

into new and more congenial surroundings at the time when they are presented to you.

Do not complain that you are a slave, but lift yourself up, by noble conduct, above the plane of slavery.

Before complaining that you are a slave to another, be sure that you are not a slave to self.

Look within; look searchingly, and have no mercy upon yourself. You will find there, perchance,

slavish thoughts, slavish desires, and in your daily life and conduct slavish habits.

Conquer these; cease to be a slave to self, and no man will have the power to enslave you. As you

overcome self, you will overcome all adverse conditions, and every difficulty will fall before you.

Do not complain that you are oppressed by the rich. Are you sure that if you gained riches you would

not be an oppressor yourself?

Remember that there is the Eternal Law which is absolutely just, and that he who oppresses today must

himself be oppressed tomorrow; and from this there is no way of escape.

And perhaps you, yesterday (in some former existence) were rich and an oppressor, and that you are

now merely paying off the debt which you owe to the Great Law. Practice, therefore, fortitude and

faith.

Dwell constantly in mind upon the Eternal justice, the Eternal Good. Endeavor to lift yourself above

the personal and the transitory into the impersonal and permanent.

Shake off the delusion that you are being injured or oppressed by another, and try to realize, by a

profounder comprehension of your inner life, and the laws which govern that life, that you are only

really injured by what is within you. There is no practice more degrading, debasing, and soul-

destroying than that of self-pity.

Cast it out from you. While such a canker is feeding upon your heart you can never expect to grow into

a fuller life.

Cease from the condemnation of others, and begin to condemn yourself. Condone none of your acts,

desires or thoughts that will not bear comparison with spotless purity, or endure the light of sinless

good.

By so doing you will be building your house upon the rock of the Eternal, and all that is required for

your happiness and well-being will come to you in its own time.

There is positively no way of permanently rising above poverty, or any undesirable condition, except

by eradicating those selfish and negative conditions within, of which these are the reflection, and by

virtue of which they continue.

The way to true riches is to enrich the soul by the acquisition of virtue. Outside of real heart-virtue

there is neither prosperity nor power, but only the appearances of these. I am aware that men make

money who have acquired no measure of virtue, and have little desire to do so; but such money does

not constitute true riches, and its possession is transitory and feverish.

Here is David‘s testimony:- For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the

wicked...... Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish. -Verily I have

cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence... When I thought to know this it was too

painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end.‖

The prosperity of the wicked was a great trial to David until he went into the sanctuary of God, and

then he knew their end.

You likewise may go into that sanctuary. It is within you. It is that state of consciousness which remains

when all that is sordid, and personal, and impermanent is risen above, and universal and eternal

principles are realized.

That is the God state of consciousness; it is the sanctuary of the Most High. When by long strife and

self-discipline, you have succeeded in entering the door of that holy Temple, you will perceive, with

unobstructed vision, the end and fruit of all human thought and endeavor, both good and evil.

You will then no longer relax your faith when you see the immoral man accumulating outward riches,

for you will know, that he must come again to poverty and degradation.

The rich man who is barren of virtue is, in reality, poor, and as surely, as the waters of the river are

drifting to the ocean, so surely is he, in the midst of all his riches, drifting towards poverty and

misfortune; and though he die rich, yet must he return to reap the bitter fruit of all of his immorality.

And though he become rich many times, yet as many times must he be thrown back into poverty, until,

by long experience and suffering he conquers the poverty within.

But the man who is outwardly poor, yet rich in virtue, is truly rich, and, in the midst of all his poverty

he is surely traveling towards prosperity; and abounding joy and bliss await his coming. If you would

become truly and permanently prosperous, you must first become virtuous.

It is therefore unwise to aim directly at prosperity, to make it the one object of life, to reach out greedily

for it, To do this is to ultimately defeat yourself.

But rather aim at self-perfection, make useful and unselfish service the object of your life, and ever

reach out hands of faith towards the supreme and unalterable Good.

You say you desire wealth, not for your own sake, but in order to do good with it, and to bless others. If

this is your real motive in desiring wealth, then wealth will come to you; for you are strong and

unselfish indeed if, in the midst of riches, you are willing to look upon yourself as steward and not as

owner.

But examine well your motive, for in the majority of instances where money is desired for the admitted

object of blessing others, the real underlying motive is a love of popularity, and a desire to pose as a

philanthropist or reformer.

If you are not doing good with what little you have, depend upon it the more money you got the more

selfish you would become, and all the good you appeared to do with your money, if you attempted to

do any, would be so much insinuating self-laudation.

If your real desire is to do good, there is no need to wait for money before you do it; you can do it now,

this very moment, and just where you are. If you are really so unselfish as you believe yourself to be,

you will show it by sacrificing yourself for others now.

No matter how poor you are, there is room for self-sacrifice, for did not the widow put her all into the

treasury?

The heart that truly desires to do good does not wait for money before doing it, but comes to the altar of

sacrifice and, leaving there the unworthy elements of self, goes out and breathes upon neighbor and

stranger, friend and enemy alike the breath of blessedness.

As the effect is related to the cause, so is prosperity and power related to the inward good and poverty

and weakness to the inward evil.

Money does not constitute true wealth, nor position, nor power, and to rely upon it alone is to stand

upon a slippery place.

Your true wealth is your stock of virtue, and your true power the uses to which you put it. Rectify your

heart, and you will rectify your life. Lust, hatred, anger, vanity, pride, covetousness, self-indulgence,

self-seeking, obstinacy,- all these are poverty and weakness; whereas love, purity, gentleness,

meekness, compassion, generosity, self-forgetfulness, and self-renunciation,- all these are wealth and

power.

As the elements of poverty and weakness are overcome, an irresistible and allconquering power is

evolved from within, and he who succeeds in establishing himself in the highest virtue, brings the

whole world to his feet.

But the rich, as well as the poor, have their undesirable conditions, and are frequently farther removed

from happiness than the poor. And here we see how happiness depends, not upon outward aids or

possessions, but upon the inward life.

Perhaps you are an employer, and you have endless trouble with those whom you employ, and when

you do get good and faithful servants they quickly leave you. As a result you are beginning to lose, or

have completely lost, your faith in human nature.

You try to remedy matters by giving better wages, and by allowing certain liberties, yet matters remain

unaltered. Let me advise you.

The secret of all your trouble is not in your servants, it is in yourself; and if you look within, with a

humble and sincere desire to discover and eradicate your error, you will, sooner or later, find the origin

of all your unhappiness.

It may be some selfish desire, or lurking suspicion, or unkind attitude of mind which sends out its

poison upon those about you, and reacts upon yourself, even though you may not show it in your

manner or speech.

Think of your servants with kindness, consider of them that extremity of service which you yourself

would not care to perform were you in their place.

Rare and beautiful is that humility of soul by which a servant entirely forgets himself in his master‘s

good; but far rarer, and beautiful with a divine beauty, is that nobility of soul by which a man,

forgetting his own happiness, seeks the happiness of those who are under his authority, and who depend

upon him for their bodily sustenance.

And such a man‘s happiness is increased tenfold, nor does he need to complain of those whom he

employs. Said a well known and extensive employer of labor, who never needs to dismiss an employee:

―I have always had the happiest relations with my workpeople.

If you ask me how it is to be accounted for, I can only say that it has been my aim from the first to do to

them as I would wish to be done by.‖ Herein lies the secret by which all desirable conditions are

secured, and all that are undesirable are overcome.

Do you say that you are lonely and unloved, and have ―not a friend in the world‖? Then, I pray you, for

the sake of your own happiness, blame nobody but yourself.

Be friendly towards others, and friends will soon flock round you. Make yourself pure and lovable, and

you will be loved by all.

Whatever conditions are rendering your life burdensome, you may pass out of and beyond them by

developing and utilizing within you the transforming power of self-purification and self-conquest.

Be it the poverty which galls (and remember that the poverty upon which I have been dilating is that

poverty which is a source of misery, and not that voluntary poverty which is the glory of emancipated

souls), or the riches which burden, or the many misfortunes, griefs, and annoyances which form the

dark background in the web of life, you may overcome them by overcoming the selfish elements within

which give them life.

It matters not that by the unfailing Law, there are past thoughts and acts to work out and to atone for,

as, by the same law, we are setting in motion, during every moment of our life, fresh thoughts and acts,

and we have the power to make them good or ill.

Nor does it follow that if a man (reaping what he has sown) must lose money or forfeit position, that he

must also lose his fortitude or forfeit his uprightness, and it is in these that his wealth and power and

happiness are to be found. He who clings to self is his own enemy and is surrounded by enemies.

He who relinquishes self is his own savior, and is surrounded by friends like a protecting belt. Before

the divine radiance of a pure heart all darkness vanishes and all clouds melt away, and he who has

conquered self has conquered the universe.

Come, then, out of your poverty; come out of your pain; come out of your troubles, and sighings, and

complainings, and heartaches, and loneliness by coming out of yourself.

Let the old tattered garment of your petty selfishness fall from you, and put on the new garment of

universal Love. You will then realize the inward heaven, and it will be reflected in all your outward life.

He who sets his foot firmly upon the path of self-conquest, who walks, aided by the staff of Faith, the

highway of self-sacrifice, will assuredly achieve the highest prosperity, and will reap abounding and

enduring joy and bliss.

To them that seek the highest good

All things subserve the wisest ends;

Nought comes as ill, and wisdom lends

Wings to all shapes of evil brood.

The dark‘ning sorrow veils a Star

That waits to shine with gladsome light;

Hell waits on heaven; and after night

Comes golden glory from afar.

Defeats are steps by which we climb

With purer aim to nobler ends;

Loss leads to gain, and joy attends

True footsteps up the hills of time.

Pain leads to paths of holy bliss,

To thoughts and words and deeds divine-,

And clouds that gloom and rays that shine,

Along life‘s upward highway kiss.

Misfortune does but cloud the way

Whose end and summit in the sky

Of bright success, sunkiss‘d and high,

Awaits our seeking and our stay.

The heavy pall of doubts and fears

That clouds the Valley of our hopes,

The shades with which the spirit copes,

The bitter harvesting of tears,

The heartaches, miseries, and griefs,

The bruisings born of broken ties,

All these are steps by which we rise

To living ways of sound beliefs.

Love, pitying, watchful, runs to meet

The Pilgrim from the Land of Fate;

All glory and all good await

The coming of obedient feet.

4. The silent power of thought: controlling and directing one’s forces

The most powerful forces in the universe are the silent forces; and in accordance with the intensity of

its power does a force become beneficent when rightly directed, and destructive when wrongly

employed.

This is a common knowledge in regard to the mechanical forces, such as steam, electricity, etc., but few

have yet learned to apply this knowledge to the realm of mind, where the thought-forces (most

powerful of all) are continually being generated and sent forth as currents of salvation or destruction.

At this stage of his evolution, man has entered into the possession of these forces, and the whole trend

of his present advancement is their complete subjugation. All the wisdom possible to man on this

material earth is to be found only in complete self-mastery, and the command, ―Love your enemies,‖

resolves itself into an exhortation to enter here and now, into the possession of that sublime wisdom by

taking hold of, mastering and transmuting, those mind forces to which man is now slavishly subject,

and by which he is helplessly borne, like a straw on the stream, upon the currents of selfishness.

The Hebrew prophets, with their perfect knowledge of the Supreme Law, always related outward

events to inward thought, and associated national disaster or success with the thoughts and desires that

dominated the nation at the time.

The knowledge of the causal power of thought is the basis of all their prophecies, as it is the basis of all

real wisdom and power. National events are simply the working out of the psychic forces of the nation.

Wars, plagues, and famines are the meeting and clashing of wrongly-directed thought-forces, the

culminating points at which destruction steps in as the agent of the Law.

It is foolish to ascribe war to the influence of one man, or to one body of men. It is the crowning horror

of national selfishness. It is the silent and conquering thought-forces which bring all things into

manifestation.

The universe grew out of thought. Matter in its last analysis is found to be merely objectivized thought.

All men‘s accomplishments were first wrought out in thought, and then objectivized.

The author, the inventor, the architect, first builds up his work in thought, and having perfected it in all

its parts as a complete and harmonious whole upon the thought-plane. he then commences to

materialize it, to bring it down to the material or sense-plane.

When the thought-forces are directed in harmony with the over-ruling Law, they are up-building and

preservative, but when subverted they become disintegrating and self-destructive.

To adjust all your thoughts to a perfect and unswerving faith in the omnipotence and supremacy of

Good, is to co-operate with that Good, and to realize within yourself the solution and destruction of all

evil. Believe and ye shall live.

And here we have the true meaning of salvation; salvation from the darkness and negation of evil, by

entering into, and realizing the living light of the Eternal Good.

Where there is fear, worry, anxiety, doubt, trouble, chagrin, or disappointment, there is ignorance and

lack of faith.

All these conditions of mind are the direct outcome of selfishness, and are based upon an inherent

belief in the power and supremacy of evil; they therefore constitute practical atheism; and to live in,

and become subject to, these negative and soul-destroying conditions of mind is the only real atheism.

It is salvation from such conditions that the race needs, and let no man boast of salvation whilst he is

their helpless and obedient slave.

To fear or to worry is as sinful as to curse, for how can one fear or worry if he intrinsically believes in

the Eternal justice, the Omnipotent Good, the Boundless Love? To fear, to worry, to doubt, is to deny,

to dis-believe.

It is from such states of mind that all weakness and failure proceed, for they represent the annulling and

disintegrating of the positive thought-forces which would otherwise speed to their object with power,

and bring about their own beneficent results.

To overcome these negative conditions is to enter into a life of power, is to cease to be a slave, and to

become a master, and there is only one way by which they can be overcome, and that is by steady and

persistent growth in inward knowledge.

To mentally deny evil is not sufficient; it must, by daily practice, be risen above and understood. To

mentally affirm the good is inadequate; it must, by unswerving endeavor, be entered into and

comprehended.

The intelligent practice of self-control, quickly leads to a knowledge of one‘s interior thought-forces,

and, later on, to the acquisition of that power by which they are rightly employed and directed.

In the measure that you master self, that you control your mental forces instead of being controlled by

them, in just such measure will you master affairs and outward circumstances.

Show me a man under whose touch everything crumbles away, and who cannot retain success even

when it is placed in his hands, and I will show you a man who dwells continually in those conditions of

mind which are the very negation of power.

To be for ever wallowing in the bogs of doubt, to be drawn continually into the quicksands of fear, or

blown ceaselessly about by the winds of anxiety, is to be a slave, and to live the life of a slave, even

though success and influence be for ever knocking at your door seeking for admittance.

Such a man, being without faith and without self-government, is incapable of the right government of

his affairs, and is a slave to circumstances; in reality a slave to himself. Such are taught by affliction,

and ultimately pass from weakness to strength by the stress of bitter experience. Faith and purpose

constitute the motive- power of life.

There is nothing that a strong faith and an unflinching purpose may not accomplish. By the daily

exercise of silent faith, the thought-forces are gathered together, and by the daily strengthening of silent

purpose, those forces are directed toward the object of accomplishment.

Whatever your position in life may be, before you can hope to enter into any measure of success,

usefulness, and power, you must learn how to focus your thought-forces by cultivating calmness and

repose. It may be that you are a business man, and you are suddenly confronted with some

overwhelming difficulty or probable disaster. You grow fearful and anxious, and are at your wit‘s end.

To persist in such a state of mind would be fatal, for when anxiety steps in, correct judgment passes

out. Now if you will take advantage of a quiet hour or two in the early morning or at night, and go

away to some solitary spot, or to some room in your house where you know you will be absolutely free

from intrusion, and, having seated yourself in an easy attitude, you forcibly direct your mind right away

from the object of anxiety by dwelling upon something in your life that is pleasing and blissgiving, a

calm, reposeful strength will gradually steal into your mind, and your anxiety will pass away.

Upon the instant that you find your mind reverting to the lower plane of worry bring it back again, and

re-establish it on the plane of peace and strength.

When this is fully accomplished, you may then concentrate your whole mind upon the solution of your

difficulty, and what was intricate and insurmountable to you in your hour of anxiety will be made plain

and easy, and you will see, with that clear vision and perfect judgment which belong only to a calm and

untroubled mind, the right course to pursue and the proper end to be brought about.

It may be that you will have to try day after day before you will be able to perfectly calm your mind,

but if you persevere you will certainly accomplish it. And the course which is presented to you in that

hour of calmness must be carried out.

Doubtless when you are again involved in the business of the day, and worries again creep in and begin

to dominate you, you will begin to think that the course is a wrong or foolish one, but do not heed such

suggestions.

Be guided absolutely and entirely by the vision of calmness, and not by the shadows of anxiety. The

hour of calmness is the hour of illumination and correct judgment.

By such a course of mental discipline the scattered thought-forces are re-united, and directed, like the

rays of the search-light, upon the problem at issue, with the result that it gives way before them.

There is no difficulty, however great, but will yield before a calm and powerful concentration of

thought, and no legitimate object but may be speedily actualized by the intelligent use and direction of

one‘s soul-forces.

Not until you have gone deeply and searchingly into your inner nature, and have overcome many

enemies that lurk there, can you have any approximate conception of the subtle power of thought, of its

inseparable relation to outward and material things, or of its magical potency, when rightly poised and

directed, in readjusting and transforming the life-conditions.

Every thought you think is a force sent out, and in accordance with its nature and intensity will it go out

to seek a lodgment in minds receptive to it, and will react upon yourself for good or evil. There is

ceaseless reciprocity between mind and mind, and a continual interchange of thought-forces.

Selfish and disturbing thoughts are so many malignant and destructive forces, messengers of evil, sent

out to stimulate and augment the evil in other minds, which in turn send them back upon you with

added power.

While thoughts that are calm, pure, and unselfish are so many angelic messengers sent out into the

world with health, healing, and blessedness upon their wings, counteracting the evil forces; pouring the

oil of joy upon the troubled waters of anxiety and sorrow, and restoring to broken hearts their heritage

of immortality.

Think good thoughts, and they will quickly become actualized in your outward life in the form of good

conditions. Control your soul-forces, and you will be able to shape your outward life as you will.

The difference between a savior and a sinner is this, that the one has a perfect control of all the forces

within him; the other is dominated and controlled by them.

There is absolutely no other way to true power and abiding peace, but by self-control, self-government,

self-purification. To be at the mercy of your disposition is to be impotent, unhappy, and of little real use

in the world.

The conquest of your petty likes and dislikes, your capricious loves and hates, your fits of anger,

suspicion, jealousy, and all the changing moods to which you are more or less helplessly subject, this is

the task you have before you if you would weave into the web of life the golden threads of happiness

and prosperity.

In so far as you are enslaved by the changing moods within you, will you need to depend upon others

and upon outward aids as you walk through life.

If you would walk firmly and securely, and would accomplish any achievement, you must learn to rise

above and control all such disturbing and retarding vibrations.

You must daily practice the habit of putting your mind at rest, ―going into the silence,‖ as it is

commonly called. This is a method of replacing a troubled thought with one of peace, a thought of

weakness with one of strength.

Until you succeed in doing this you cannot hope to direct your mental forces upon the problems and

pursuits of life with any appreciable measure of success. It is a process of diverting one‘s scattered

forces into one powerful channel.

Just as a useless marsh may be converted into a field of golden corn or a fruitful garden by draining and

directing the scattered and harmful streams into one wellcut channel, so, he who acquires calmness, and

subdues and directs the thoughtcurrents within himself, saves his soul, and fructifies his heart and life.

As you succeed in gaining mastery over your impulses and thoughts you will begin to feel, growing up

within you, a new and silent power, and a settled feeling of composure and strength will remain with

you.

Your latent powers will begin to unfold themselves, and whereas formerly your efforts were weak and

ineffectual, you will now be able to work with that calm confidence which commands success.

And along with this new power and strength, there will be awakened within you that interior

Illumination known as ―intuition,‖ and you will walk no longer in darkness and speculation, but in light

and certainty.

With the development of this soul-vision, judgment and mental penetration will be incalculably

increased, and there will evolve within you that prophetic vision by the aid of which you will be able to

sense coming events, and to forecast, with remarkable accuracy, the result of your efforts.

And in just the measure that you alter from within will your outlook upon life alter; and as you alter

your mental attitude towards others they will alter in their attitude and conduct toward you.

As you rise above the lower, debilitating, and destructive thought-forces, you will come in contact with

the positive, strengthening, and up-building currents generated by strong, pure, and noble minds, your

happiness will be immeasurably intensified, and you will begin to realize the joy, strength, and power,

which are born only of self-mastery.

And this joy, strength, and power will be continually radiating from you, and without any effort on your

part, nay, though you are utterly unconscious of it, strong people will be drawn toward you, influence

will be put into your hands, and in accordance with your altered thought-world will outward events

shape themselves.

―A man‘s foes are they of his own household,‖ and he who would be useful, strong, and happy, must

cease to be a passive receptacle for the negative, beggardly, and impure streams of thought; and as a

wise householder commands his servants and invites his guests, so must he learn to command his

desires, and to say, with authority, what thoughts he shall admit into the mansion of his soul.

Even a very partial success in self-mastery adds greatly to one‘s power, and he who succeeds in

perfecting this divine accomplishment, enters into possession of undreamed-of wisdom and inward

strength and peace, and realizes that all the forces of the universe aid and protect his footsteps who is

master of his soul.

Would you scale the highest heaven,

Would you pierce the lowest hell,

Live in dreams of constant beauty,

Or in basest thinkings dwell.

For your thoughts are heaven above you,

And your thoughts are hell below,

Bliss is not, except in thinking,

Torment nought but thought can know.

Worlds would vanish but for thinking;

Glory is not but in dreams;

And the Drama of the ages

From the Thought Eternal streams.

Dignity and shame and sorrow,

Pain and anguish, love and hate

Are but maskings of the mighty

Pulsing Thought that governs Fate.

As the colors of the rainbow

Makes the one uncolored beam,

So the universal changes

Make the One Eternal Dream.

And the Dream is all within you,

And the Dreamer waiteth long

For the Morning to awake him

To the living thought and strong.

That shall make the ideal real,

Make to vanish dreams of hell

In the highest, holiest heaven

Where the pure and perfect dwell.

Evil is the thought that thinks it;

Good, the thought that makes it so

Light and darkness, sin and pureness

Likewise out of thinking grow.

Dwell in thought upon the Grandest,

And the Grandest you shall see ;

Fix your mind upon the Highest,

And the Highest you shall be.

5. The secret of health, success and power

We all remember with what intense delight, as children, we listened to the nevertiring fairy-tale. How

eagerly we followed the fluctuating fortunes of the good boy or girl, ever protected, in the hour of

crisis, from the evil machinations of the scheming witch, the cruel giant, or the wicked king.

And our little hearts never faltered for the fate of the hero or heroine, nor did we doubt their ultimate

triumph over all their enemies, for we knew that the fairies were infallible, and that they would never

desert those who had consecrated themselves to the good and the true.

And what unspeakable joy pulsated within us when the Fairy-Queen, bringing all her magic to bear at

the critical moment, scattered all the darkness and trouble, and granted them the complete satisfaction

of all their hopes, and they were ―happy ever after.‖

With the accumulating years, and an ever-increasing intimacy with the so-called ―realities‖ of life, our

beautiful fairy-world became obliterated, and its wonderful inhabitants were relegated, in the archives

of memory, to the shadowy and unreal.

And we thought we were wise and strong in thus leaving for ever the land of childish dreams, but as we

re-become little children in the wondrous world of wisdom, we shall return again to the inspiring

dreams of childhood and find that they are, after all, realities.

The fairy-folk, so small and nearly always invisible, yet possessed of an all-conquering and magical

power, who bestow upon the good, health, wealth, and happiness, along with all the gifts of nature in

lavish profusion, start again into reality and become immortalized in the soul-realm of him who, by

growth in wisdom, has entered into a knowledge of the power of thought, and the laws which govern

the inner world of being.

To him the fairies live again as thought-people, thought-messengers, thoughtpowers working in

harmony with the over-ruling Good. And they who, day by day, endeavor to harmonize their hearts

with the heart of the Supreme Good, do in reality acquire true health, wealth, and happiness.

There is no protection to compare with goodness, and by ―goodness‖ I do not mean a mere outward

conformity to the rules of morality; I mean pure thought, noble aspiration, unselfish love, and freedom

from vainglory.

To dwell continually in good thoughts, is to throw around oneself a psychic atmosphere of sweetness

and power which leaves its impress upon all who come in contact with it.

As the rising sun puts to rout the helpless shadows, so are all the impotent forces of evil put to flight by

the searching rays of positive thought which shine forth from a heart made strong in purity and faith.

Where there is sterling faith and uncompromising purity there is health, there is success, there is power.

In such a one, disease, failure, and disaster can find no lodgment, for there is nothing on which they can

feed.

Even physical conditions are largely determined by mental states, and to this truth the scientific world

is rapidly being drawn.

The old, materialistic belief that a man is what his body makes him, is rapidly passing away, and is

being replaced by the inspiring belief that man is superior to his body, and that his body is what he

makes it by the power of thought.

Men everywhere are ceasing to believe that a man is despairing because he is dyspeptic, and are

coming to understand that he is dyspeptic because he is despairing, and in the near future, the fact that

all disease has its origin in the mind will become common knowledge.

There is no evil in the universe but has its root and origin in the mind, and sin, sickness, sorrow, and

affliction do not, in reality, belong to the universal order, are not inherent in the nature of things, but are

the direct outcome of our ignorance of the right relations of things.

According to tradition, there once lived, in India, a school of philosophers who led a life of such

absolute purity and simplicity that they commonly reached the age of one hundred and fifty years, and

to fall sick was looked upon by them as an unpardonable disgrace, for it was considered to indicate a

violation of law.

The sooner we realize and acknowledge that sickness, far from being the arbitrary visitation of an

offended God, or the test of an unwise Providence, is the result of our own error or sin, the sooner shall

we enter upon the highway of health.

Disease comes to those who attract it, to those whose minds and bodies are receptive to it, and flees

from those whose strong, pure, and positive thought-sphere generates healing and life-giving currents.

If you are given to anger, worry, jealousy, greed, or any other inharmonious state of mind, and expect

perfect physical health, you are expecting the impossible, for you are continually sowing the seeds of

disease in your mind.

Such conditions of mind are carefully shunned by the wise man, for he knows them to be far more

dangerous than a bad drain or an infected house.

If you would be free from all physical aches and pains, and would enjoy perfect physical harmony, then

put your mind in order, and harmonize your thoughts. Think joyful thoughts; think loving thoughts; let

the elixir of goodwill course through your veins, and you will need no other medicine. Put away your

jealousies, your suspicions, your worries, your hatreds, your selfish indulgences, and you will put away

your dyspepsia, your biliousness, your nervousness and aching joints.

If you will persist in clinging to these debilitating and demoralizing habits of mind, then do not

complain when your body is laid low with sickness. The following story illustrates the close relation

that exists between habits of mind and bodily conditions.

A certain man was afflicted with a painful disease, and he tried one physician after another, but all to no

purpose. He then visited towns which were famous for their curative waters, and after having bathed in

them all, his disease was more painful than ever.

One night he dreamed that a Presence came to him and said, ―Brother, hast thou tried all the means of

cure?‖ and he replied, ―I have tried all.‖ ―Nay,‖ said the Presence, ―Come with me, and I will show thee

a healing bath which has escaped thy notice.‖

The afflicted man followed, and the Presence led him to a clear pool of water, and said, ―Plunge thyself

in this water and thou shalt surely recover,‖ and thereupon vanished.

The man plunged into the water, and on coming out, Io! his disease had left him, and at the same

moment he saw written above the pool the word ―Renounce.‖ Upon waking, the fall meaning of his

dream flashed across his mind, and looking within he discovered that he had, all along, been a victim to

a sinful indulgence, and he vowed that he would renounce it for ever.

He carried out his vow, and from that day his affliction began to leave him, and in a short time he was

completely restored to health. Many people complain that they have broken down through over-work.

In the majority of such cases the breakdown is more frequently the result of foolishly wasted energy.

If you would secure health you must learn to work without friction. To become anxious or excited, or to

worry over needless details is to invite a breakdown.

Work, whether of brain or body, is beneficial and health-giving, and the man who can work with a

steady and calm persistency, freed from all anxiety and worry, and with his mind utterly oblivious to all

but the work he has in hand, will not only accomplish far more than the man who is always hurried and

anxious, but he will retain his health, a boon which the other quickly forfeits.

True health and true success go together, for they are inseparably intertwined in the thought-realm. As

mental harmony produces bodily health, so it also leads to a harmonious sequence in the actual

working out of one‘s plans.

Order your thoughts and you will order your life. Pour the oil of tranquility upon the turbulent waters

of the passions and prejudices, and the tempests of misfortune, howsoever they may threaten, will be

powerless to wreck the barque of your soul, as it threads its way across the ocean of life.

And if that barque be piloted by a cheerful and never-failing faith its course will be doubly sure, and

many perils will pass it by which would other-wise attack it.

By the power of faith every enduring work is accomplished. Faith in the Supreme; faith in the over-

ruling Law; faith in your work, and in your power to accomplish that work, -here is the rock upon

which you must build if you would achieve, if you would stand and not fall.

To follow, under all circumstances, the highest promptings within you; to be always true to the divine

self; to rely upon the inward Light, the inward Voice, and to pursue your purpose with a fearless and

restful heart, believing that the future will yield unto you the meed of every thought and effort;

knowing that the laws of the universe can never fail, and that your own will come back to you with

mathematical exactitude, this is faith and the living of faith.

By the power of such a faith the dark waters of uncertainty are divided, every mountain of difficulty

crumbles away, and the believing soul passes on unharmed.

Strive, O reader! to acquire, above everything, the priceless possession of this dauntless faith, for it is

the talisman of happiness, of success, of peace, of power, of all that makes life great and superior to

suffering.

Build upon such a faith, and you build upon the Rock of the Eternal, and with the materials of the

Eternal, and the structure that you erect will never be dissolved, for it will transcend all the

accumulations of material luxuries and riches, the end of which is dust.

Whether you are hurled into the depths of sorrow or lifted upon the heights of joy, ever retain your hold

upon this faith, ever return to it as your rock of refuge, and keep your feet firmly planted upon its

immortal and immovable base.

Centered in such a faith, you will become possessed of such a spiritual strength as will shatter, like so

many toys of glass, all the forces of evil that are hurled against you, and you will achieve a success

such as the mere striver after worldly gain can never know or even dream of. ―If ye have faith, and

doubt not, ye shall not only do this, ... but if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be

thou cast into the sea, it shall be done.‖

There are those today, men and women tabernacled in flesh and blood, who have realized this faith,

who live in it and by it day by day, and who, having put it to the uttermost test, have entered into the

possession of its glory and peace.

Such have sent out the word of command, and the mountains of sorrow and disappointment, of mental

weariness and physical pain have passed from them, and have been cast into the sea of oblivion.

If you will become possessed of this faith you will not need to trouble about your success or failure,

and success will come.

You will not need to become anxious about results, but will work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that

right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results.

I know a lady who has entered into many blissful satisfactions, and recently a friend remarked to her,

―Oh, how fortunate you are! You only have to wish for a thing, and it comes to you.‖

And it did, indeed, appear so on the surface; but in reality all the blessedness that has entered into this

woman‘s life is the direct outcome of the inward state of blessedness which she has, throughout life,

been cultivating and training toward perfection.

Mere wishing brings nothing but disappointment; it is living that tells.

The foolish wish and grumble; the wise, work and wait. And this woman had worked; worked without

and within, but especially within upon heart and soul; and with the invisible hands of the spirit she had

built up, with the precious stones of faith, hope, joy, devotion, and love, a fair temple of light, whose

glorifying radiance was ever round about her.

It beamed in her eye; it shone through her countenance; it vibrated in her voice; and all who came into

her presence felt its captivating spell.

And as with her, so with you. Your success, your failure, your influence, your whole life you carry

about with you, for your dominant trends of thought are the determining factors in your destiny.

Send forth loving, stainless, and happy thoughts, and blessings will fall into your hands, and your table

will be spread with the cloth of peace.

Send forth hateful, impure, and unhappy thoughts, and curses will rain down upon you, and fear and

unrest will wait upon your pillow. You are the unconditional maker of your fate, be that fate what it

may. Every moment you are sending forth from you the influences which will make or mar your life.

Let your heart grow large and loving and unselfish, and great and lasting will be your influence and

success, even though you make little money.

Confine it within the narrow limits of self-interest, and even though you become a millionaire your

influence and success, at the final reckoning will be found to be utterly insignificant. Cultivate, then,

this pure and unselfish spirit, and combine with purity and faith, singleness of purpose, and you are

evolving from within the elements, not only of abounding health and enduring success, but of greatness

and power.

If your present position is distasteful to you, and your heart is not in your work, nevertheless perform

your duties with scrupulous diligence, and whilst resting your mind in the idea that the better position

and greater opportunities are waiting for you, ever keep an active mental outlook for budding

possibilities, so that when the critical moment arrives, and the new channel presents itself, you will step

into it with your mind fully prepared for the undertaking, and with that intelligence and foresight which

is born of mental discipline.

Whatever your task may be, concentrate your whole mind upon it, throw into it all the energy of which

you are capable. The faultless completion of small tasks leads inevitably to larger tasks. See to it that

you rise by steady climbing, and you will never fall. And herein lies the secret of true power.

Learn, by constant practice, how to husband your resources, and to concentrate them, at any moment,

upon a given point. The foolish waste all their mental and spiritual energy in frivolity, foolish chatter,

or selfish argument, not to mention wasteful physical excesses.

If you would acquire overcoming power you must cultivate poise and passivity. You must be able to

stand alone. All power is associated with immovability. The mountain, the massive rock, the storm-

tried oak, all speak to us of power, because of their combined solitary grandeur and defiant fixity; while

the shifting sand, the yielding twig, and the waving reed speak to us of weakness, because they are

movable and non-resistant, and are utterly useless when detached from their fellows.

He is the man of power who, when all his fellows are swayed by some emotion or passion, remains

calm and unmoved. He only is fitted to command and control who has succeeded in commanding and

controlling himself.

The hysterical, the fearful, the thoughtless and frivolous, let such seek company, or they will fall for

lack of support; but the calm, the fearless, the thoughtful, and let such seek the solitude of the forest,

the desert, and the mountain-top, and to their power more power will be added, and they will more and

more successfully stem the psychic currents and whirlpools which engulf mankind.

Passion is not power; it is the abuse of power, the dispersion of power. Passion is like a furious storm

which beats fiercely and wildly upon the embattled rock whilst power is like the rock itself, which

remains silent and unmoved through it all.

That was a manifestation of true power when Martin Luther, wearied with the persuasions of his fearful

friends, who were doubtful as to his safety should he go to Worms, replied, ―If there were as many

devils in Worms as there are tiles on the housetops I would go.‖

And when Benjamin Disraeli broke down in his first Parliamentary speech, and brought upon himself

the derision of the House, that was an exhibition of germinal power when he exclaimed, ―The day will

come when you will consider it an honor to listen to me.‖

When that young man, whom I knew, passing through continual reverses and misfortunes, was mocked

by his friends and told to desist from further effort, and he replied, ―The time is not far distant when

you will marvel at my good fortune and success,‖ he showed that he was possessed of that silent and

irresistible power which has taken him over innumerable difficulties, and crowned his life with success.

If you have not this power, you may acquire it by practice, and the beginning of power is likewise the

beginning of wisdom. You must commence by overcoming those purposeless trivialities to which you

have hitherto been a willing victim.

Boisterous and uncontrolled laughter, slander and idle talk, and joking merely to raise a laugh, all these

things must be put on one side as so much waste of valuable energy.

St. Paul never showed his wonderful insight into the hidden laws of human progress to greater

advantage than when he warned the Ephesians against ―Foolish talking and jesting which is not

convenient,‖ for to dwell habitually in such practices is to destroy all spiritual power and life.

As you succeed in rendering yourself impervious to such mental dissipations you will begin to

understand what true power is, and you will then commence to grapple with the more powerful desires

and appetites which hold your soul in bondage, and bar the way to power, and your further progress

will then be made clear.

Above all be of single aim; have a legitimate and useful purpose, and devote yourself unreservedly to

it. Let nothing draw you aside ; remember that the doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways.

Be eager to learn, but slow to beg. Have a thorough understanding of your work, and let it be your own;

and as you proceed, ever following the inward Guide, the infallible Voice, you will pass on from

victory to victory, and will rise step by step to higher resting-places, and your ever-broadening outlook

will gradually reveal to you the essential beauty and purpose of life.

Self-purified, health will be yours; faith-protected, success will be yours; self-governed, power will be

yours, and all that you do will prosper, for, ceasing to be a disjointed unit, self-enslaved, you will be in

harmony with the Great Law, working no longer against, but with, the Universal Life, the Eternal

Good.

And what health you gain it will remain with you; what success you achieve will be beyond all human

computation, and will never pass away; and what influence and power you wield will continue to

increase throughout the ages, for it will be a part of that unchangeable Principle which supports the

universe.

This, then, is the secret of health, -a pure heart and a well-ordered mind ; this is the secret of success, -

an unfaltering faith, and a wisely-directed purpose; and to rein in, with unfaltering will, the dark steed

of desire, this is the secret of power.

All ways are waiting for my feet to tread,

The light and dark, the living and the dead,

The broad and narrow way, the high and low,

The good and bad, and with quick step or slow,

I now may enter any way I will,

And find, by walking, which is good, which ill.

And all good things my wandering feet await,

If I but come, with vow inviolate,

Unto the narrow, high and holy way

Of heart-born purity, and therein stay;

Walking, secure from him who taunts and scorns,

To flowery meads, across the path of thorns.

And I may stand where health, success, and power

Await my coming, if, each fleeting hour,

I cling to love and patience; and abide

With stainlessness; and never step aside

From high integrity ; so shall I see

At last the land of immortality.

And I may seek and find; I may achieve,

I may not claim, but, losing, may retrieve.

The law bends not for me, but I must bend

Unto the law, if I would reach the end

Of my afflictions, if I would restore

My soul to Light and Life, and weep no more.

Not mine the arrogant and selfish claim

To all good things; be mine the lowly aim

To seek and find, to know and comprehend,

And wisdom-ward all holy footsteps wend,

Nothing is mine to claim or to command,

But all is mine to know and understand.

6. The secret of abounding happiness

Great is the thirst for happiness, and equally great is the lack of happiness. The majority of the poor

long for riches, believing that their possession would bring them supreme and lasting happiness.

Many who are rich, having gratified every desire and whim, suffer from ennui and repletion, and are

farther from the possession of happiness even than the very poor.

If we reflect upon this state of things it will ultimately lead us to a knowledge of the all important truth

that happiness is not derived from mere outward possessions, nor misery from the lack of them; for if

this were so, we should find the poor always miserable, and the rich always happy, whereas the reverse

is frequently the case.

Some of the most wretched people whom I have known were those who were surrounded with riches

and luxury, whilst some of the brightest and happiest people I have met were possessed of only the

barest necessities of life.

Many men who have accumulated riches have confessed that the selfish gratification which followed

the acquisition of riches has robbed life of its sweetness, and that they were never so happy as when

they were poor.

What, then, is happiness, and how is it to be secured? Is it a figment, a delusion, and is suffering alone

perennial? We shall find, after earnest observation and reflection, that all, except those who have

entered the way of wisdom, believe that happiness is only to be obtained by the gratification of desire.

It is this belief, rooted in the soil of ignorance, and continually watered by selfish cravings, that is the

cause of all the misery in the world.

And I do not limit the word desire to the grosser animal cravings; it extends to the higher psychic

realm, where far more powerful, subtle, and insidious cravings hold in bondage the intellectual and

refined, depriving them of all that beauty, harmony, and purity of soul whose expression is happiness.

Most people will admit that selfishness is the cause of all the unhappiness in the world, but they fall

under the soul-destroying delusion that it is somebody else‘s selfishness, and not their own.

When you are willing to admit that all your unhappiness is the result of your own selfishness you will

not be far from the gates of Paradise; but so long as you are convinced that it is the selfishness of others

that is robbing you of joy, so long will you remain a prisoner in your self-created purgatory.

Happiness is that inward state of perfect satisfaction which is joy and peace, and from which all desire

is eliminated. The satisfaction which results from gratified desire is brief and illusionary, and is always

followed by an increased demand for gratification.

Desire is as insatiable as the ocean, and clamors louder and louder as its demands are attended to.

It claims ever-increasing service from its deluded devotees, until at last they are struck down with

physical or mental anguish, and are hurled into the purifying fires of suffering. Desire is the region of

hell, and all torments are centered there.

The giving up of desire is the realization of heaven, and all delights await the pilgrim there,

I sent my soul through the invisible,

Some letter of that after life to spell,

And by-and-by my soul returned to me,

And whispered, I myself am heaven and hell,‖

Heaven and hell are inward states. Sink into self and all its gratifications, and you sink into hell; rise

above self into that state of consciousness which is the utter denial and forgetfulness of self, and you

enter heaven.

Self is blind, without judgment, not possessed of true knowledge, and always leads to suffering.

Correct perception, unbiased judgment, and true knowledge belong only to the divine state, and only in

so far as you realize this divine consciousness can you know what real happiness is.

So long as you persist in selfishly seeking for your own personal happiness, so long will happiness

elude you, and you will be sowing the seeds of wretchedness.

In so far as you succeed in losing yourself in the service of others, in that measure will happiness come

to you, and you will reap a harvest of bliss.

It is in loving, not in being loved,

The heart is blessed;

It is in giving, not in seeking gifts,

We find our quest.

Whatever be thy longing or thy need,

That do thou give;

So shall thy soul be fed, and thou indeed

Shalt truly live.

Cling to self, and you cling to sorrow, relinquish self, and you enter into peace. To seek selfishly is not

only to lose happiness, but even that which we believe to be the source of happiness.

See how the glutton is continually looking about for a new delicacy wherewith to stimulate his

deadened appetite; and how, bloated, burdened, and diseased, scarcely any food at last is eaten with

pleasure.

Whereas, he who has mastered his appetite, and not only does not seek, but never thinks of gustatory

pleasure, finds delight in the most frugal meal. The angel-form of happiness, which men, looking

through the eyes of self, imagine they see in gratified desire, when clasped is always found to be the

skeleton of misery. Truly, ―He that seeketh his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life shall find it.‖

Abiding happiness will come to you when, ceasing to selfishly cling, you are willing to give up. When

you are willing to lose, unreservedly, that impermanent thing which is so dear to you, and which,

whether you cling to it or not, will one day be snatched from you, then you will find that that which

seemed to you like a painful loss, turns out to be a supreme gain.

To give up in order to gain, than this there is no greater delusion, nor no more prolific source of misery;

but to be willing to yield up and to suffer loss, this is indeed the Way of Life.

How is it possible to find real happiness by centering ourselves in those things which, by their very

nature, must pass away? Abiding and real happiness can only be found by centering ourselves in that

which is permanent.

Rise, therefore, above the clinging to and the craving for impermanent things, and you will then enter

into a consciousness of the Eternal, and as, rising above self, and by growing more and more into the

spirit of purity, self-sacrifice and universal Love, you become centered in that consciousness, you will

realize that happiness which has no reaction, and which can never be taken from you.

The heart that has reached utter self-forgetfulness in its love for others has not only become possessed

of the highest happiness but has entered into immortality, for it has realized the Divine.

Look back upon your life, and you will find that the moments of supremest happiness were those in

which you uttered some word, or performed some act, of compassion or self-denying love. Spiritually,

happiness and harmony are, synonymous.

Harmony is one phase of the Great Law whose spiritual expression is love. All selfishness is discord,

and to be selfish is to be out of harmony with the Divine order.

As we realize that all-embracing love which is the negation of self, we put ourselves in harmony with

the divine music, the universal song, and that ineffable melody which is true happiness becomes our

own.

Men and women are rushing hither and thither in the blind search for happiness, and cannot find it; nor

ever will until they recognize that happiness is already within them and round about them, filling the

universe, and that they, in their selfish searching are shutting themselves out from it.

I followed happiness to make her mine,

Past towering oak and swinging ivy vine.

She fled, I chased, o‘er slanting hill and dale,

O‘er fields and meadows, in the purpling vale;

Pursuing rapidly o‘er dashing stream.

I scaled the dizzy cliffs where eagles scream;

I traversed swiftly every land and M.

But always happiness eluded me.

Exhausted, fainting, I pursued no more,

But sank to rest upon a barren shore.

One came and asked for food, and one for alms

I placed the bread and gold in bony palms.

One came for sympathy, and one for rest;

I shared with every needy one my best;

When, Io! sweet Happiness, with form divine,

Stood by me, whispering softly, ‗I am thine‘.

These beautiful lines of Burleigh‘s express the secret of all abounding happiness. Sacrifice the personal

and transient, and you rise at once into the impersonal and permanent.

Give up that narrow cramped self that seeks to render all things subservient to its own petty interests,

and you will enter into the company of the angels, into the very heart and essence of universal Love.

Forget yourself entirely in the sorrows of others and in ministering to others, and divine happiness will

emancipate you from all sorrow and suffering.

―Taking the first step with a good thought, the second with a good word, and the third with a good

deed, I entered Paradise.‖ And you also may enter into Paradise by pursuing the same course. It is not

beyond, it is here. It is realized only by the unselfish.

It is known in its fullness only to the pure in heart. If you have not realized this unbounded happiness

you may begin to actualize it by ever holding before you the lofty ideal of unselfish love, and aspiring

towards it.

Aspiration or prayer is desire turned upward. It is the soul turning toward its Divine source, where

alone permanent satisfaction can be found. By aspiration the destructive forces of desire are transmuted

into divine and all-preserving energy.

To aspire is to make an effort to shake off the trammels of desire; it is the prodigal made wise by

loneliness and suffering, returning to his Father‘s Mansion.

As you rise above the sordid self; as you break, one after another, the chains that bind you, will you

realize the joy of giving, as distinguished from the misery of grasping - giving of your substance;

giving of your intellect; giving of the love and light that is growing within you.

You will then understand that it is indeed ―more blessed to give than to receive.‖ But the giving must

be of the heart without any taint of self, without desire for reward. The gift of pure love is always

attended with bliss. If, after you have given, you are wounded because you are not thanked or flattered,

or your name put in the paper, know then that your gift was prompted by vanity and not by love, and

you were merely giving in order to get; were not really giving, but grasping.

Lose yourself in the welfare of others; forget yourself in all that you do; this is the secret of abounding

happiness.

Ever be on the watch to guard against selfishness, and learn faithfully the divine lessons of inward

sacrifice; so shall you climb the highest heights of happiness, and shall remain in the neverclouded

sunshine of universal joy, clothed in the shining garment of immortality.

Are you searching for the happiness that does not fade away?

Are you looking for the joy that lives, and leaves no grievous day?

Are you panting for the waterbrooks of Love, and Life, and Peace?

Then let all dark desires depart, and selfish seeking cease.

Are you ling‘ring in the paths of pain, grief-haunted, stricken sore?

Are you wand‘ring in the ways that wound your weary feet the more?

Are you sighing for the Resting-Place where tears and sorrows cease?

Then sacrifice your selfish heart and find the Heart of Peace.

7. The realization of prosperity

It is granted only to the heart that abounds with integrity, trust, generosity and love to realize true

prosperity. The heart that is not possessed of these qualities cannot know prosperity, for prosperity, like

happiness, is not an outward possession, but an inward realization.

The greedy man may become a millionaire, but he will always be wretched, and mean, and poor, and

will even consider himself outwardly poor so long as there is a man in the world who is richer than

himself, whilst the upright, the open-handed and loving will realize a full and rich prosperity, even

though their outward possessions may be small.

He is poor who is dissatisfied; he is rich who is contented with what he has, and he is richer who is

generous with what he has.

When we contemplate the fact that the universe is abounding in all good things, material as well as

spiritual, and compare it with man‘s blind eagerness to secure a few gold coins, or a few acres of dirt, it

is then that we realize how dark and ignorant selfishness is; it is then that we know that self-seeking is

self-destruction.

Nature gives all, without reservation, and loses nothing; man, grasping all, loses everything.

If you would realize true prosperity do not settle down, as many have done, into the belief that if you

do right everything will go wrong. Do not allow the word ―competition‖ to shake your faith in the

supremacy of righteousness.

I care not what men may say about the ―laws of competition,‖ for do I not know the unchangeable Law,

which shall one day put them all to rout, and which puts them to rout even now in the heart and life of

the righteous man?

And knowing this Law I can contemplate all dishonesty with undisturbed repose, for I know where

certain destruction awaits it. Under all circumstances do that which you believe to be right, and trust

the Law; trust the Divine Power that is imminent in the universe, and it will never desert you, and you

will always be protected.

By such a trust all your losses will be converted into gains, and all curses which threaten will be

transmuted into blessings. Never let go of integrity, generosity, and love, for these, coupled with

energy, will lift you into the truly prosperous state.

Do not believe the world when it tells you that you must always attend to ―number one‖ first, and to

others afterwards. To do this is not to think of others at all, but only of one‘s own comforts.

To those who practice this the day will come when they will be deserted by all, and when they cry out

in their loneliness and anguish there will be no one to hear and help them. To consider one‘s self before

all others is to cramp and warp and hinder every noble and divine impulse.

Let your soul expand, let your heart reach out to others in loving and generous warmth, and great and

lasting will be your joy, and all prosperity will come to you. Those who have wandered from the

highway of righteousness guard themselves against competition; those who always pursue the right

need not to trouble about such defense.

This is no empty statement, There are men today who, by the power of integrity and faith, have defied

all competition, and who, without swerving in the least from their methods, when competed with, have

risen steadily into prosperity, whilst those who tried to undermine them have fallen back defeated.

To possess those inward qualities which constitute goodness is to be armored against all the powers of

evil, and to be doubly protected in every time of trial; and to build‘ oneself up in those qualities is to

build up a success which cannot be shaken, and to enter into a prosperity which will endure forever.

The White Robe of the Heart Invisible

Is stained with sin and sorrow, grief and pain,

And all repentant pools and springs of prayer

Shall not avail to wash it white again.

While in the path of ignorance I walk,

The stains of error will not cease to cling

Defilements mark the crooked path of self,

Where anguish lurks and disappointments sting.

Knowledge and wisdom only can avail

To purify and make my garment clean,

For therein lie love‘s waters ; therein rests

Peace undisturbed, eternal, and serene.

Sin and repentance is the path of pain,

Knowledge and wisdom is the path of Peace

By the near way of practice I will find

Where bliss begins, how pains and sorrows cease.

Self shall depart, and Truth shall take its place

The Changeless One, the Indivisible

Shall take up His abode in me, and cleanse

The White Robe of the Heart Invisible.

Part II: The way of peace

1. The power of meditation

Spiritual meditation is the pathway to Divinity. It is the mystic ladder which reaches from earth to

heaven, from error to Truth, from pain to peace. Every saint has climbed it; every sinner must sooner or

later come to it, and every weary pilgrim that turns his back upon self and the world, and sets his face

resolutely toward the Father‘s Home, must plant his feet upon its golden rounds. Without its aid you

cannot grow into the divine state, the divine likeness, the divine peace, and the fadeless glories and

unpolluting joys of Truth will remain hidden from you.

Meditation is the intense dwelling, in thought, upon an idea or theme, with the object of thoroughly

comprehending it, and whatsoever you constantly meditate upon you will not only come to understand,

but will grow more and more into its likeness, for it will become incorporated into your very being, will

become, in fact, your very self. If, therefore, you constantly dwell upon that which is selfish and

debasing, you will ultimately become selfish and debased; if you ceaselessly think upon that which is

pure and unselfish you will surely become pure and unselfish.

Tell me what that is upon which you most frequently and intensely think, that to which, in your silent

hours, your soul most naturally turns, and I will tell you to what place of pain or peace you are

traveling, and whether you are growing into the likeness of the divine or the bestial.

There is an unavoidable tendency to become literally the embodiment of that quality upon which one

most constantly thinks. Let, therefore, the object of your meditation be above and not below, so that

every time you revert to it in thought you will be lifted up; let it be pure and unmixed with any selfish

element; so shall your heart become purified and drawn nearer to Truth, and not defiled and dragged

more hopelessly into error.

Meditation, in the spiritual sense in which I am now using it, is the secret of all growth in spiritual life

and knowledge. Every prophet, sage, and savior became such by the power of meditation. Buddha

meditated upon the Truth until he could say, "I am the Truth." Jesus brooded upon the Divine

immanence until at last he could declare, "I and my Father are One."

Meditation centered upon divine realities is the very essence and soul of prayer. It is the silent reaching

of the soul toward the Eternal. Mere petitionary prayer without meditation is a body without a soul, and

is powerless to lift the mind and heart above sin and affliction. If you are daily praying for wisdom, for

peace, for loftier purity and a fuller realization of Truth, and that for which you pray is still far from

you, it means that you are praying for one thing while living out in thought and act another. If you will

cease from such waywardness, taking your mind off those things the selfish clinging to which debars

you from the possession of the stainless realities for which you pray: if you will no longer ask God to

grant you that which you do not deserve, or to bestow upon you that love and compassion which you

refuse to bestow upon others, but will commence to think and act in the spirit of Truth, you will day by

day be growing into those realities, so that ultimately you will become one with them.

He who would secure any worldly advantage must be willing to work vigorously for it, and he would

be foolish indeed who, waiting with folded hands, expected it to come to him for the mere asking. Do

not then vainly imagine that you can obtain the heavenly possessions without making an effort. Only

when you commence to work earnestly in the Kingdom of Truth will you be allowed to partake of the

Bread of Life, and when you have, by patient and uncomplaining effort, earned the spiritual wages for

which you ask, they will not be withheld from you.

If you really seek Truth, and not merely your own gratification; if you love it above all worldly

pleasures and gains; more, even, than happiness itself, you will be willing to make the effort necessary

for its achievement.

If you would be freed from sin and sorrow; if you would taste of that spotless purity for which you sigh

and pray; if you would realize wisdom and knowledge, and would enter into the possession of profound

and abiding peace, come now and enter the path of meditation, and let the supreme object of your

meditation be Truth.

At the outset, meditation must be distinguished from idle reverie. There is nothing dreamy and

unpractical about it. It is a process of searching and uncompromising thought which allows nothing to

remain but the simple and naked truth. Thus meditating you will no longer strive to build yourself up in

your prejudices, but, forgetting self, you will remember only that you are seeking the Truth. And so you

will remove, one by one, the errors which you have built around yourself in the past, and will patiently

wait for the revelation of Truth which will come when your errors have been sufficiently removed. In

the silent humility of your heart you will realize that

"There is an inmost centre in us all

Where Truth abides in fulness; and around,

Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in;

This perfect, clear perception, which is Truth,

A baffling and perverting carnal mesh

Blinds it, and makes all error; and to know,

Rather consists in opening out a way

Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape,

Than in effecting entry for a light

Supposed to be without."

Select some portion of the day in which to meditate, and keep that period sacred to your purpose. The

best time is the very early morning when the spirit of repose is upon everything. All natural conditions

will then be in your favor; the passions, after the long bodily fast of the night, will be subdued, the

excitements and worries of the previous day will have died away, and the mind, strong and yet restful,

will be receptive to spiritual instruction. Indeed, one of the first efforts you will be called upon to make

will be to shake off lethargy and indulgence, and if you refuse you will be unable to advance, for the

demands of the spirit are imperative.

To be spiritually awakened is also to be mentally and physically awakened. The sluggard and the self-

indulgent can have no knowledge of Truth. He who, possessed of health and strength, wastes the calm,

precious hours of the silent morning in drowsy indulgence is totally unfit to climb the heavenly heights.

He whose awakening consciousness has become alive to its lofty possibilities, who is beginning to

shake off the darkness of ignorance in which the world is enveloped, rises before the stars have ceased

their vigil, and, grappling with the darkness within his soul, strives, by holy aspiration, to perceive the

light of Truth while the unawakened world dreams on.

"The heights by great men reached and kept,

Were not attained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night."

No saint, no holy man, no teacher of Truth ever lived who did not rise early in the morning. Jesus

habitually rose early, and climbed the solitary mountains to engage in holy communion. Buddha always

rose an hour before sunrise and engaged in meditation, and all his disciples were enjoined to do the

same.

If you have to commence your daily duties at a very early hour, and are thus debarred from giving the

early morning to systematic meditation, try to give an hour at night, and should this, by the length and

laboriousness of your daily task be denied you, you need not despair, for you may turn your thoughts

upward in holy meditation in the intervals of your work, or in those few idle minutes which you now

waste in aimlessness; and should your work be of that kind which becomes by practice automatic, you

may meditate while engaged upon it. That eminent Christian saint and philosopher, Jacob Boehme,

realized his vast knowledge of divine things whilst working long hours as a shoemaker. In every life

there is time to think, and the busiest, the most laborious is not shut out from aspiration and meditation.

Spiritual meditation and self-discipline are inseparable; you will, therefore, commence to meditate

upon yourself so as to try and understand yourself, for, remember, the great object you will have in

view will be the complete removal of all your errors in order that you may realize Truth. You will begin

to question your motives, thoughts, and acts, comparing them with your ideal, and endeavoring to look

upon them with a calm and impartial eye. In this manner you will be continually gaining more of that

mental and spiritual equilibrium without which men are but helpless straws upon the ocean of life. If

you are given to hatred or anger you will meditate upon gentleness and forgiveness, so as to become

acutely alive to a sense of your harsh and foolish conduct. You will then begin to dwell in thoughts of

love, of gentleness, of abounding forgiveness; and as you overcome the lower by the higher, there will

gradually, silently steal into your heart a knowledge of the divine Law of Love with an understanding

of its bearing upon all the intricacies of life and conduct. And in applying this knowledge to your every

thought, word, and act, you will grow more and more gentle, more and more loving, more and more

divine. And thus with every error, every selfish desire, every human weakness; by the power of

meditation is it overcome, and as each sin, each error is thrust out, a fuller and clearer measure of the

Light of Truth illumines the pilgrim soul.

Thus meditating, you will be ceaselessly fortifying yourself against your only real enemy, your selfish,

perishable self, and will be establishing yourself more and more firmly in the divine and imperishable

self that is inseparable from Truth. The direct outcome of your meditations will be a calm, spiritual

strength which will be your stay and resting-place in the struggle of life. Great is the overcoming power

of holy thought, and the strength and knowledge gained in the hour of silent meditation will enrich the

soul with saving remembrance in the hour of strife, of sorrow, or of temptation.

As, by the power of meditation, you grow in wisdom, you will relinquish, more and more, your selfish

desires which are fickle, impermanent, and productive of sorrow and pain; and will take your stand,

with increasing steadfastness and trust, upon unchangeable principles, and will realize heavenly rest.

The use of meditation is the acquirement of a knowledge of eternal principles, and the power which

results from meditation is the ability to rest upon and trust those principles, and so become one with the

Eternal. The end of meditation is, therefore, direct knowledge of Truth, God, and the realization of

divine and profound peace.

Let your meditations take their rise from the ethical ground which you now occupy. Remember that

you are to grow into Truth by steady perseverance. If you are an orthodox Christian, meditate

ceaselessly upon the spotless purity and divine excellence of the character of Jesus, and apply his every

precept to your inner life and outward conduct, so as to approximate more and more toward his

perfection. Do not be as those religious ones, who, refusing to meditate upon the Law of Truth, and to

put into practice the precepts given to them by their Master, are content to formally worship, to cling to

their particular creeds, and to continue in the ceaseless round of sin and suffering. Strive to rise, by the

power of meditation, above all selfish clinging to partial gods or party creeds; above dead formalities

and lifeless ignorance. Thus walking the high way of wisdom, with mind fixed upon the spotless Truth,

you shall know no halting-place short of the realization of Truth.

He who earnestly meditates first perceives a truth, as it were, afar off, and then realizes it by daily

practice. It is only the doer of the Word of Truth that can know of the doctrine of Truth, for though by

pure thought the Truth is perceived, it is only actualized by practice.

Said the divine Gautama, the Buddha, "He who gives himself up to vanity, and does not give himself

up to meditation, forgetting the real aim of life and grasping at pleasure, will in time envy him who has

exerted himself in meditation," and he instructed his disciples in the following "Five Great

Meditations":--

"The first meditation is the meditation of love, in which you so adjust your heart that you long for the

weal and welfare of all beings, including the happiness of your enemies.

"The second meditation is the meditation of pity, in which you think of all beings in distress, vividly

representing in your imagination their sorrows and anxieties so as to arouse a deep compassion for

them in your soul.

"The third meditation is the meditation of joy, in which you think of the prosperity of others, and

rejoice with their rejoicings.

"The fourth meditation is the meditation of impurity, in which you consider the evil consequences of

corruption, the effects of sin and diseases. How trivial often the pleasure of the moment, and how fatal

its consequences.

"The fifth meditation is the meditation on serenity, in which you rise above love and hate, tyranny and

oppression, wealth and want, and regard your own fate with impartial calmness and perfect

tranquillity."

By engaging in these meditations the disciples of the Buddha arrived at a knowledge of the Truth. But

whether you engage in these particular meditations or not matters little so long as your object is Truth,

so long as you hunger and thirst for that righteousness which is a holy heart and a blameless life. In

your meditations, therefore, let your heart grow and expand with ever-broadening love, until, freed

from all hatred, and passion, and condemnation, it embraces the whole universe with thoughtful

tenderness. As the flower opens its petals to receive the morning light, so open your soul more and

more to the glorious light of Truth. Soar upward upon the wings of aspiration; be fearless, and believe

in the loftiest possibilities. Believe that a life of absolute meekness is possible; believe that a life of

stainless purity is possible; believe that a life of perfect holiness is possible; believe that the realization

of the highest truth is possible. He who so believes, climbs rapidly the heavenly hills, whilst the

unbelievers continue to grope darkly and painfully in the fog-bound valleys.

So believing, so aspiring, so meditating, divinely sweet and beautiful will be your spiritual experiences,

and glorious the revelations that will enrapture your inward vision. As you realize the divine Love, the

divine Justice, the divine Purity, the Perfect Law of Good, or God, great will be your bliss and deep

your peace. Old things will pass away, and all things will become new. The veil of the material

universe, so dense and impenetrable to the eye of error, so thin and gauzy to the eye of Truth, will be

lifted and the spiritual universe will be revealed. Time will cease, and you will live only in Eternity.

Change and mortality will no more cause you anxiety and sorrow, for you will become established in

the unchangeable, and will dwell in the very heart of immortality.

Star of wisdom

Star that of the birth of Vishnu,

Birth of Krishna, Buddha, Jesus,

Told the wise ones, Heavenward looking,

Waiting, watching for thy gleaming

In the darkness of the night-time,

In the starless gloom of midnight;

Shining Herald of the coming

Of the kingdom of the righteous;

Teller of the Mystic story

Of the lowly birth of Godhead

In the stable of the passions,

In the manger of the mind-soul;

Silent singer of the secret

Of compassion deep and holy

To the heart with sorrow burdened,

To the soul with waiting weary:--

Star of all-surpassing brightness,

Thou again dost deck the midnight;

Thou again dost cheer the wise ones

Watching in the creedal darkness,

Weary of the endless battle

With the grinding blades of error;

Tired of lifeless, useless idols,

Of the dead forms of religions;

Spent with watching for thy shining;

Thou hast ended their despairing;

Thou hast lighted up their pathway;

Thou hast brought again the old Truths

To the hearts of all thy Watchers;

To the souls of them that love thee

Thou dost speak of Joy and Gladness,

Of the peace that comes of Sorrow.

Blessed are they that can see thee,

Weary wanderers in the Night-time;

Blessed they who feel the throbbing,

In their bosoms feel the pulsing

Of a deep Love stirred within them

By the great power of thy shining.

Let us learn thy lesson truly;

Learn it faithfully and humbly;

Learn it meekly, wisely, gladly,

Ancient Star of holy Vishnu,

Light of Krishna, Buddha, Jesus.

2. The two masters, self and truth

Upon the battlefield of the human soul two masters are ever contending for the crown of supremacy, for

the kingship and dominion of the heart; the master of self, called also the "Prince of this world," and

the master of Truth, called also the Father God. The master self is that rebellious one whose weapons

are passion, pride, avarice, vanity, self-will, implements of darkness; the master Truth is that meek and

lowly one whose weapons are gentleness, patience, purity, sacrifice, humility, love, instruments of

Light.

In every soul the battle is waged, and as a soldier cannot engage at once in two opposing armies, so

every heart is enlisted either in the ranks of self or of Truth. There is no half-and-half course; "There is

self and there is Truth; where self is, Truth is not, where Truth is, self is not." Thus spake Buddha, the

teacher of Truth, and Jesus, the manifested Christ, declared that "No man can serve two masters; for

either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye

cannot serve God and Mammon."

Truth is so simple, so absolutely undeviating and uncompromising that it admits of no complexity, no

turning, no qualification. Self is ingenious, crooked, and, governed by subtle and snaky desire, admits

of endless turnings and qualifications, and the deluded worshipers of self vainly imagine that they can

gratify every worldly desire, and at the same time possess the Truth. But the lovers of Truth worship

Truth with the sacrifice of self, and ceaselessly guard themselves against worldliness and self-seeking.

Do you seek to know and to realize Truth? Then you must be prepared to sacrifice, to renounce to the

uttermost, for Truth in all its glory can only be perceived and known when the last vestige of self has

disappeared.

The eternal Christ declared that he who would be His disciple must "deny himself daily." Are you

willing to deny yourself, to give up your lusts, your prejudices, your opinions? If so, you may enter the

narrow way of Truth, and find that peace from which the world is shut out. The absolute denial, the

utter extinction, of self is the perfect state of Truth, and all religions and philosophies are but so many

aids to this supreme attainment.

Self is the denial of Truth. Truth is the denial of self. As you let self die, you will be reborn in Truth. As

you cling to self, Truth will be hidden from you.

Whilst you cling to self, your path will be beset with difficulties, and repeated pains, sorrows, and

disappointments will be your lot. There are no difficulties in Truth, and coming to Truth, you will be

freed from all sorrow and disappointment.

Truth in itself is not hidden and dark. It is always revealed and is perfectly transparent. But the blind

and wayward self cannot perceive it. The light of day is not hidden except to the blind, and the Light of

Truth is not hidden except to those who are blinded by self.

Truth is the one Reality in the universe, the inward Harmony, the perfect Justice, the eternal Love.

Nothing can be added to it, nor taken from it. It does not depend upon any man, but all men depend

upon it. You cannot perceive the beauty of Truth while you are looking out through the eyes of self. If

you are vain, you will color everything with your own vanities. If lustful, your heart and mind will be

so clouded with the smoke and flames of passion, that everything will appear distorted through them. If

proud and opinionative, you will see nothing in the whole universe except the magnitude and

importance of your own opinions.

There is one quality which pre-eminently distinguishes the man of Truth from the man of self, and that

is humility. To be not only free from vanity, stubbornness and egotism, but to regard one‘s own

opinions as of no value, this indeed is true humility.

He who is immersed in self regards his own opinions as Truth, and the opinions of other men as error.

But that humble Truth-lover who has learned to distinguish between opinion and Truth, regards all men

with the eye of charity, and does not seek to defend his opinions against theirs, but sacrifices those

opinions that he may love the more, that he may manifest the spirit of Truth, for Truth in its very nature

is ineffable and can only be lived. He who has most of charity has most of Truth.

Men engage in heated controversies, and foolishly imagine they are defending the Truth, when in

reality they are merely defending their own petty interests and perishable opinions. The follower of self

takes up arms against others. The follower of Truth takes up arms against himself. Truth, being

unchangeable and eternal, is independent of your opinion and of mine. We may enter into it, or we may

stay outside; but both our defense and our attack are superfluous, and are hurled back upon ourselves.

Men, enslaved by self, passionate, proud, and condemnatory, believe their particular creed or religion

to be the Truth, and all other religions to be error; and they proselytize with passionate ardor. There is

but one religion, the religion of Truth. There is but one error, the error of self. Truth is not a formal

belief; it is an unselfish, holy, and aspiring heart, and he who has Truth is at peace with all, and

cherishes all with thoughts of love.

You may easily know whether you are a child of Truth or a worshiper of self, if you will silently

examine your mind, heart, and conduct. Do you harbor thoughts of suspicion, enmity, envy, lust, pride,

or do you strenuously fight against these? If the former, you are chained to self, no matter what religion

you may profess; if the latter, you are a candidate for Truth, even though outwardly you may profess no

religion. Are you passionate, self-willed, ever seeking to gain your own ends, self-indulgent, and self-

centered; or are you gentle, mild, unselfish, quit of every form of self-indulgence, and are ever ready to

give up your own? If the former, self is your master; if the latter, Truth is the object of your affection.

Do you strive for riches? Do you fight, with passion, for your party? Do you lust for power and

leadership? Are you given to ostentation and self-praise? Or have you given up the love of riches?

Have you relinquished all strife? Are you content to take the lowest place, and to be passed by

unnoticed? And have you ceased to talk about yourself and to regard yourself with self-complacent

pride? If the former, even though you may imagine you worship God, the god of your heart is self. If

the latter, even though you may withhold your lips from worship, you are dwelling with the Most High.

The signs by which the Truth-lover is known are unmistakable. Hear the Holy Krishna declare them, in

Sir Edwin Arnold‘s beautiful rendering of the "Bhagavad Gita":--

"Fearlessness, singleness of soul, the will

Always to strive for wisdom; opened hand

And governed appetites; and piety,

And love of lonely study; humbleness,

Uprightness, heed to injure nought which lives

Truthfulness, slowness unto wrath, a mind

That lightly letteth go what others prize;

And equanimity, and charity

Which spieth no man‘s faults; and tenderness

Towards all that suffer; a contented heart,

Fluttered by no desires; a bearing mild,

Modest and grave, with manhood nobly mixed,

With patience, fortitude and purity;

An unrevengeful spirit, never given

To rate itself too high--such be the signs,

O Indian Prince! of him whose feet are set

On that fair path which leads to heavenly birth!"

When men, lost in the devious ways of error and self, have forgotten the "heavenly birth," the state of

holiness and Truth, they set up artificial standards by which to judge one another, and make acceptance

of, and adherence to, their own particular theology, the test of Truth; and so men are divided one

against another, and there is ceaseless enmity and strife, and unending sorrow and suffering.

Reader, do you seek to realize the birth into Truth? There is only one way: Let self die. All those lusts,

appetites, desires, opinions, limited conceptions and prejudices to which you have hitherto so

tenaciously clung, let them fall from you. Let them no longer hold you in bondage, and Truth will be

yours. Cease to look upon your own religion as superior to all others, and strive humbly to learn the

supreme lesson of charity. No longer cling to the idea, so productive of strife and sorrow, that the

Savior whom you worship is the only Savior, and that the Savior whom your brother worships with

equal sincerity and ardor, is an impostor; but seek diligently the path of holiness, and then you will

realize that every holy man is a savior of mankind.

The giving up of self is not merely the renunciation of outward things. It consists of the renunciation of

the inward sin, the inward error. Not by giving up vain clothing; not by relinquishing riches; not by

abstaining from certain foods; not by speaking smooth words; not by merely doing these things is the

Truth found; but by giving up the spirit of vanity; by relinquishing the desire for riches; by abstaining

from the lust of self-indulgence; by giving up all hatred, strife, condemnation, and self-seeking, and

becoming gentle and pure at heart; by doing these things is the Truth found. To do the former, and not

to do the latter, is pharisaism and hypocrisy, whereas the latter includes the former. You may renounce

the outward world, and isolate yourself in a cave or in the depths of a forest, but you will take all your

selfishness with you, and unless you renounce that, great indeed will be your wretchedness and deep

your delusion. You may remain just where you are, performing all your duties, and yet renounce the

world, the inward enemy. To be in the world and yet not of the world is the highest perfection, the most

blessed peace, is to achieve the greatest victory. The renunciation of self is the way of Truth, therefore,

"Enter the Path; there is no grief like hate,

No pain like passion, no deceit like sense;

Enter the Path; far hath he gone whose foot

Treads down one fond offense."

As you succeed in overcoming self you will begin to see things in their right relations. He who is

swayed by any passion, prejudice, like or dislike, adjusts everything to that particular bias, and sees

only his own delusions. He who is absolutely free from all passion, prejudice, preference, and partiality,

sees himself as he is; sees others as they are; sees all things in their proper proportions and right

relations. Having nothing to attack, nothing to defend, nothing to conceal, and no interests to guard, he

is at peace. He has realized the profound simplicity of Truth, for this unbiased, tranquil, blessed state of

mind and heart is the state of Truth. He who attains to it dwells with the angels, and sits at the footstool

of the Supreme. Knowing the Great Law; knowing the origin of sorrow; knowing the secret of

suffering; knowing the way of emancipation in Truth, how can such a one engage in strife or

condemnation; for though he knows that the blind, self-seeking world, surrounded with the clouds of its

own illusions, and enveloped in the darkness of error and self, cannot perceive the steadfast Light of

Truth, and is utterly incapable of comprehending the profound simplicity of the heart that has died, or is

dying, to self, yet he also knows that when the suffering ages have piled up mountains of sorrow, the

crushed and burdened soul of the world will fly to its final refuge, and that when the ages are

completed, every prodigal will come back to the fold of Truth. And so he dwells in goodwill toward all,

and regards all with that tender compassion which a father bestows upon his wayward children.

Men cannot understand Truth because they cling to self, because they believe in and love self, because

they believe self to be the only reality, whereas it is the one delusion.

When you cease to believe in and love self you will desert it, and will fly to Truth, and will find the

eternal Reality.

When men are intoxicated with the wines of luxury, and pleasure, and vanity, the thirst of life grows

and deepens within them, and they delude themselves with dreams of fleshly immortality, but when

they come to reap the harvest of their own sowing, and pain and sorrow supervene, then, crushed and

humiliated, relinquishing self and all the intoxications of self, they come, with aching hearts to the one

immortality, the immortality that destroys all delusions, the spiritual immortality in Truth.

Men pass from evil to good, from self to Truth, through the dark gate of sorrow, for sorrow and self are

inseparable. Only in the peace and bliss of Truth is all sorrow vanquished. If you suffer disappointment

because your cherished plans have been thwarted, or because someone has not come up to your

anticipations, it is because you are clinging to self. If you suffer remorse for your conduct, it is because

you have given way to self. If you are overwhelmed with chagrin and regret because of the attitude of

someone else toward you, it is because you have been cherishing self. If you are wounded on account

of what has been done to you or said of you, it is because you are walking in the painful way of self.

All suffering is of self. All suffering ends in Truth. When you have entered into and realized Truth, you

will no longer suffer disappointment, remorse, and regret, and sorrow will flee from you.

"Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul;

Truth is the only angel that can bid the gates unroll;

And when he comes to call thee, arise and follow fast;

His way may lie through darkness, but it leads to light at last."

The woe of the world is of its own making. Sorrow purifies and deepens the soul, and the extremity of

sorrow is the prelude to Truth.

Have you suffered much? Have you sorrowed deeply? Have you pondered seriously upon the problem

of life? If so, you are prepared to wage war against self, and to become a disciple of Truth.

The intellectual who do not see the necessity for giving up self, frame endless theories about the

universe, and call them Truth; but do thou pursue that direct line of conduct which is the practice of

righteousness, and thou wilt realize the Truth which has no place in theory, and which never changes.

Cultivate your heart. Water it continually with unselfish love and deep-felt pity, and strive to shut out

from it all thoughts and feelings which are not in accordance with Love. Return good for evil, love for

hatred, gentleness for ill-treatment, and remain silent when attacked. So shall you transmute all your

selfish desires into the pure gold of Love, and self will disappear in Truth. So will you walk

blamelessly among men, yoked with the easy yoke of lowliness, and clothed with the divine garment of

humility.

O come, weary brother! thy struggling and striving

End thou in the heart of the Master of ruth;

Across self‘s drear desert why wilt thou be driving,

Athirst for the quickening waters of Truth

When here, by the path of thy searching and sinning,

Flows Life‘s gladsome stream, lies Love‘s oasis green?

Come, turn thou and rest; know the end and beginning,

The sought and the searcher, the seer and seen.

Thy Master sits not in the unapproached mountains,

Nor dwells in the mirage which floats on the air,

Nor shalt thou discover His magical fountains

In pathways of sand that encircle despair.

In selfhood‘s dark desert cease wearily seeking

The odorous tracks of the feet of thy King;

And if thou wouldst hear the sweet sound of His speaking,

Be deaf to all voices that emptily sing.

Flee the vanishing places; renounce all thou hast;

Leave all that thou lovest, and, naked and bare,

Thyself at the shrine of the Innermost cast;

The Highest, the Holiest, the Changeless is there.

Within, in the heart of the Silence He dwelleth;

Leave sorrow and sin, leave thy wanderings sore;

Come bathe in His Joy, whilst He, whispering, telleth

Thy soul what it seeketh, and wander no more.

Then cease, weary brother, thy struggling and striving;

Find peace in the heart of the Master of ruth.

Across self‘s dark desert cease wearily driving;

Come; drink at the beautiful waters of Truth.

3. The acquirement of spiritual power

The world is filled with men and women seeking pleasure, excitement, novelty; seeking ever to be

moved to laughter or tears; not seeking strength, stability, and power; but courting weakness, and

eagerly engaged in dispersing what power they have.

Men and women of real power and influence are few, because few are prepared to make the sacrifice

necessary to the acquirement of power, and fewer still are ready to patiently build up character.

To be swayed by your fluctuating thoughts and impulses is to be weak and powerless; to rightly control

and direct those forces is to be strong and powerful. Men of strong animal passions have much of the

ferocity of the beast, but this is not power. The elements of power are there; but it is only when this

ferocity is tamed and subdued by the higher intelligence that real power begins; and men can only grow

in power by awakening themselves to higher and ever higher states of intelligence and consciousness.

The difference between a man of weakness and one of power lies not in the strength of the personal

will (for the stubborn man is usually weak and foolish), but in that focus of consciousness which

represents their states of knowledge.

The pleasure-seekers, the lovers of excitement, the hunters after novelty, and the victims of impulse and

hysterical emotion lack that knowledge of principles which gives balance, stability, and influence.

A man commences to develop power when, checking his impulses and selfish inclinations, he falls

back upon the higher and calmer consciousness within him, and begins to steady himself upon a

principle. The realization of unchanging principles in consciousness is at once the source and secret of

the highest power.

When, after much searching, and suffering, and sacrificing, the light of an eternal principle dawns upon

the soul, a divine calm ensues and joy unspeakable gladdens the heart.

He who has realized such a principle ceases to wander, and remains poised and self-possessed. He

ceases to be "passion‘s slave," and becomes a master-builder in the Temple of Destiny.

The man that is governed by self, and not by a principle, changes his front when his selfish comforts

are threatened. Deeply intent upon defending and guarding his own interests, he regards all means as

lawful that will subserve that end. He is continually scheming as to how he may protect himself against

his enemies, being too self-centered to perceive that he is his own enemy. Such a man‘s work crumbles

away, for it is divorced from Truth and power. All effort that is grounded upon self, perishes; only that

work endures that is built upon an indestructible principle.

The man that stands upon a principle is the same calm, dauntless, self-possessed man under all

circumstances. When the hour of trial comes, and he has to decide between his personal comforts and

Truth, he gives up his comforts and remains firm. Even the prospect of torture and death cannot alter or

deter him. The man of self regards the loss of his wealth, his comforts, or his life as the greatest

calamities which can befall him. The man of principle looks upon these incidents as comparatively

insignificant, and not to be weighed with loss of character, loss of Truth. To desert Truth is, to him, the

only happening which can really be called a calamity.

It is the hour of crisis which decides who are the minions of darkness, and who the children of Light. It

is the epoch of threatening disaster, ruin, and persecution which divides the sheep from the goats, and

reveals to the reverential gaze of succeeding ages the men and women of power.

It is easy for a man, so long as he is left in the enjoyment of his possessions, to persuade himself that he

believes in and adheres to the principles of Peace, Brotherhood, and Universal Love; but if, when his

enjoyments are threatened, or he imagines they are threatened, he begins to clamor loudly for war, he

shows that he believes in and stands upon, not Peace, Brotherhood, and Love, but strife, selfishness,

and hatred.

He who does not desert his principles when threatened with the loss of every earthly thing, even to the

loss of reputation and life, is the man of power; is the man whose every word and work endures; is the

man whom the afterworld honors, reveres, and worships. Rather than desert that principle of Divine

Love on which he rested, and in which all his trust was placed, Jesus endured the utmost extremity of

agony and deprivation; and today the world prostrates itself at his pierced feet in rapt adoration.

There is no way to the acquirement of spiritual power except by that inward illumination and

enlightenment which is the realization of spiritual principles; and those principles can only be realized

by constant practice and application.

Take the principle of divine Love, and quietly and diligently meditate upon it with the object of arriving

at a thorough understanding of it. Bring its searching light to bear upon all your habits, your actions,

your speech and intercourse with others, your every secret thought and desire. As you persevere in this

course, the divine Love will become more and more perfectly revealed to you, and your own

shortcomings will stand out in more and more vivid contrast, spurring you on to renewed endeavor; and

having once caught a glimpse of the incomparable majesty of that imperishable principle, you will

never again rest in your weakness, your selfishness, your imperfection, but will pursue that Love until

you have relinquished every discordant element, and have brought yourself into perfect harmony with

it. And that state of inward harmony is spiritual power. Take also other spiritual principles, such as

Purity and Compassion, and apply them in the same way, and, so exacting is Truth, you will be able to

make no stay, no resting-place until the inmost garment of your soul is bereft of every stain, and your

heart has become incapable of any hard, condemnatory, and pitiless impulse.

Only in so far as you understand, realize, and rely upon, these principles, will you acquire spiritual

power, and that power will be manifested in and through you in the form of increasing dispassion,

patience and equanimity.

Dispassion argues superior self-control; sublime patience is the very hall-mark of divine knowledge,

and to retain an unbroken calm amid all the duties and distractions of life, marks off the man of power.

"It is easy in the world to live after the world‘s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but

the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of

solitude."

Some mystics hold that perfection in dispassion is the source of that power by which miracles (so-

called) are performed, and truly he who has gained such perfect control of all his interior forces that no

shock, however great, can for one moment unbalance him, must be capable of guiding and directing

those forces with a master-hand.

To grow in self-control, in patience, in equanimity, is to grow in strength and power; and you can only

thus grow by focusing your consciousness upon a principle. As a child, after making many and

vigorous attempts to walk unaided, at last succeeds, after numerous falls, in accomplishing this, so you

must enter the way of power by first attempting to stand alone. Break away from the tyranny of custom,

tradition, conventionality, and the opinions of others, until you succeed in walking lonely and erect

among men. Rely upon your own judgment; be true to your own conscience; follow the Light that is

within you; all outward lights are so many will-o‘-the-wisps. There will be those who will tell you that

you are foolish; that your judgment is faulty; that your conscience is all awry, and that the Light within

you is darkness; but heed them not. If what they say is true the sooner you, as a searcher for wisdom,

find it out the better, and you can only make the discovery by bringing your powers to the test.

Therefore, pursue your course bravely. Your conscience is at least your own, and to follow it is to be a

man; to follow the conscience of another is to be a slave. You will have many falls, will suffer many

wounds, will endure many buffetings for a time, but press on in faith, believing that sure and certain

victory lies ahead. Search for a rock, a principle, and having found it cling to it; get it under your feet

and stand erect upon it, until at last, immovably fixed upon it, you succeed in defying the fury of the

waves and storms of selfishness.

For selfishness in any and every form is dissipation, weakness, death; unselfishness in its spiritual

aspect is conservation, power, life. As you grow in spiritual life, and become established upon

principles, you will become as beautiful and as unchangeable as those principles, will taste of the

sweetness of their immortal essence, and will realize the eternal and indestructible nature of the God

within.

No harmful shaft can reach the righteous man,

Standing erect amid the storms of hate,

Defying hurt and injury and ban,

Surrounded by the trembling slaves of Fate.

Majestic in the strength of silent power,

Serene he stands, nor changes not nor turns;

Patient and firm in suffering‘s darkest hour,

Time bends to him, and death and doom he spurns.

Wrath‘s lurid lightnings round about him play,

And hell‘s deep thunders roll about his head;

Yet heeds he not, for him they cannot slay

Who stands whence earth and time and space are fled.

Sheltered by deathless love, what fear hath he?

Armored in changeless Truth, what can he know

Of loss and gain? Knowing eternity,

He moves not whilst the shadows come and go.

Call him immortal, call him Truth and Light

And splendor of prophetic majesty

Who bideth thus amid the powers of night,

Clothed with the glory of divinity.

4. The realization of selfless love

It is said that Michael Angelo saw in every rough block of stone a thing of beauty awaiting the master-

hand to bring it into reality. Even so, within each there reposes the Divine Image awaiting the master-

hand of Faith and the chisel of Patience to bring it into manifestation. And that Divine Image is

revealed and realized as stainless, selfless Love.

Hidden deep in every human heart, though frequently covered up with a mass of hard and almost

impenetrable accretions, is the spirit of Divine Love, whose holy and spotless essence is undying and

eternal. It is the Truth in man; it is that which belongs to the Supreme: that which is real and immortal.

All else changes and passes away; this alone is permanent and imperishable; and to realize this Love by

ceaseless diligence in the practice of the highest righteousness, to live in it and to become fully

conscious in it, is to enter into immortality here and now, is to become one with Truth, one with God,

one with the central Heart of all things, and to know our own divine and eternal nature.

To reach this Love, to understand and experience it, one must work with great persistency and diligence

upon his heart and mind, must ever renew his patience and keep strong his faith, for there will be much

to remove, much to accomplish before the Divine Image is revealed in all its glorious beauty.

He who strives to reach and to accomplish the divine will be tried to the very uttermost; and this is

absolutely necessary, for how else could one acquire that sublime patience without which there is no

real wisdom, no divinity? Ever and anon, as he proceeds, all his work will seem to be futile, and his

efforts appear to be thrown away. Now and then a hasty touch will mar his image, and perhaps when he

imagines his work is almost completed he will find what he imagined to be the beautiful form of Divine

Love utterly destroyed, and he must begin again with his past bitter experience to guide and help him.

But he who has resolutely set himself to realize the Highest recognizes no such thing as defeat. All

failures are apparent, not real. Every slip, every fall, every return to selfishness is a lesson learned, an

experience gained, from which a golden grain of wisdom is extracted, helping the striver toward the

accomplishment of his lofty object. To recognize

"That of our vices we can frame

A ladder if we will but tread

Beneath our feet each deed of shame,"

is to enter the way that leads unmistakably toward the Divine, and the failings of one who thus

recognizes are so many dead selves, upon which he rises, as upon stepping-stones, to higher things.

Once come to regard your failings, your sorrows and sufferings as so many voices telling you plainly

where you are weak and faulty, where you fall below the true and the divine, you will then begin to

ceaselessly watch yourself, and every slip, every pang of pain will show you where you are to set to

work, and what you have to remove out of your heart in order to bring it nearer to the likeness of the

Divine, nearer to the Perfect Love. And as you proceed, day by day detaching yourself more and more

from the inward selfishness the Love that is selfless will gradually become revealed to you. And when

you are growing patient and calm, when your petulances, tempers, and irritabilities are passing away

from you, and the more powerful lusts and prejudices cease to dominate and enslave you, then you will

know that the divine is awakening within you, that you are drawing near to the eternal Heart, that you

are not far from that selfless Love, the possession of which is peace and immortality.

Divine Love is distinguished from human loves in this supremely important particular, it is free from

partiality. Human loves cling to a particular object to the exclusion of all else, and when that object is

removed, great and deep is the resultant suffering to the one who loves. Divine Love embraces the

whole universe, and, without clinging to any part, yet contains within itself the whole, and he who

comes to it by gradually purifying and broadening his human loves until all the selfish and impure

elements are burnt out of them, ceases from suffering. It is because human loves are narrow and

confined and mingled with selfishness that they cause suffering. No suffering can result from that Love

which is so absolutely pure that it seeks nothing for itself. Nevertheless, human loves are absolutely

necessary as steps toward the Divine, and no soul is prepared to partake of Divine Love until it has

become capable of the deepest and most intense human love. It is only by passing through human loves

and human sufferings that Divine Love is reached and realized.

All human loves are perishable like the forms to which they cling; but there is a Love that is

imperishable, and that does not cling to appearances.

All human loves are counterbalanced by human hates; but there is a Love that admits of no opposite or

reaction; divine and free from all taint of self, that sheds its fragrance on all alike.

Human loves are reflections of the Divine Love, and draw the soul nearer to the reality, the Love that

knows neither sorrow nor change.

It is well that the mother, clinging with passionate tenderness to the little helpless form of flesh that lies

on her bosom, should be overwhelmed with the dark waters of sorrow when she sees it laid in the cold

earth. It is well that her tears should flow and her heart ache, for only thus can she be reminded of the

evanescent nature of the joys and objects of sense, and be drawn nearer to the eternal and imperishable

Reality.

It is well that lover, brother, sister, husband, wife should suffer deep anguish, and be enveloped in

gloom when the visible object of their affections is torn from them, so that they may learn to turn their

affections toward the invisible Source of all, where alone abiding satisfaction is to be found.

It is well that the proud, the ambitious, the self-seeking, should suffer defeat, humiliation, and

misfortune; that they should pass through the scorching fires of affliction; for only thus can the

wayward soul be brought to reflect upon the enigma of life; only thus can the heart be softened and

purified, and prepared to receive the Truth.

When the sting of anguish penetrates the heart of human love; when gloom and loneliness and

desertion cloud the soul of friendship and trust, then it is that the heart turns toward the sheltering love

of the Eternal, and finds rest in its silent peace. And whosoever comes to this Love is not turned away

comfortless, is not pierced with anguish nor surrounded with gloom; and is never deserted in the dark

hour of trial.

The glory of Divine Love can only be revealed in the heart that is chastened by sorrow, and the image

of the heavenly state can only be perceived and realized when the lifeless, formless accretions of

ignorance and self are hewn away.

Only that Love that seeks no personal gratification or reward, that does not make distinctions, and that

leaves behind no heartaches, can be called divine.

Men, clinging to self and to the comfortless shadows of evil, are in the habit of thinking of divine Love

as something belonging to a God who is out of reach; as something outside themselves, and that must

for ever remain outside. Truly, the Love of God is ever beyond the reach of self, but when the heart and

mind are emptied of self then the selfless Love, the supreme Love, the Love that is of God or Good

becomes an inward and abiding reality.

And this inward realization of holy Love is none other than the Love of Christ that is so much talked

about and so little comprehended. The Love that not only saves the soul from sin, but lifts it also above

the power of temptation.

But how may one attain to this sublime realization? The answer which Truth has always given, and will

ever give to this question is,--"Empty thyself, and I will fill thee." Divine Love cannot be known until

self is dead, for self is the denial of Love, and how can that which is known be also denied? Not until

the stone of self is rolled away from the sepulcher of the soul does the immortal Christ, the pure Spirit

of Love, hitherto crucified, dead and buried, cast off the bands of ignorance, and come forth in all the

majesty of His resurrection.

You believe that the Christ of Nazareth was put to death and rose again. I do not say you err in that

belief; but if you refuse to believe that the gentle spirit of Love is crucified daily upon the dark cross of

your selfish desires, then, I say, you err in this unbelief, and have not yet perceived, even afar off, the

Love of Christ.

You say that you have tasted of salvation in the Love of Christ. Are you saved from your temper, your

irritability, your vanity, your personal dislikes, your judgment and condemnation of others? If not, from

what are you saved, and wherein have you realized the transforming Love of Christ?

He who has realized the Love that is divine has become a new man, and has ceased to be swayed and

dominated by the old elements of self. He is known for his patience, his purity, his self-control, his

deep charity of heart, and his unalterable sweetness.

Divine or selfless Love is not a mere sentiment or emotion; it is a state of knowledge which destroys

the dominion of evil and the belief in evil, and lifts the soul into the joyful realization of the supreme

Good. To the divinely wise, knowledge and Love are one and inseparable.

It is toward the complete realization of this divine Love that the whole world is moving; it was for this

purpose that the universe came into existence, and every grasping at happiness, every reaching out of

the soul toward objects, ideas and ideals, is an effort to realize it. But the world does not realize this

Love at present because it is grasping at the fleeting shadow and ignoring, in its blindness, the

substance. And so suffering and sorrow continue, and must continue until the world, taught by its self-

inflicted pains, discovers the Love that is selfless, the wisdom that is calm and full of peace.

And this Love, this Wisdom, this Peace, this tranquil state of mind and heart may be attained to, may be

realized by all who are willing and ready to yield up self, and who are prepared to humbly enter into a

comprehension of all that the giving up of self involves. There is no arbitrary power in the universe,

and the strongest chains of fate by which men are bound are self-forged. Men are chained to that which

causes suffering because they desire to be so, because they love their chains, because they think their

little dark prison of self is sweet and beautiful, and they are afraid that if they desert that prison they

will lose all that is real and worth having.

"Ye suffer from yourselves, none else compels,

None other holds ye that ye live and die."

And the indwelling power which forged the chains and built around itself the dark and narrow prison,

can break away when it desires and wills to do so, and the soul does will to do so when it has

discovered the worthlessness of its prison, when long suffering has prepared it for the reception of the

boundless Light and Love.

As the shadow follows the form, and as smoke comes after fire, so effect follows cause, and suffering

and bliss follow the thoughts and deeds of men. There is no effect in the world around us but has its

hidden or revealed cause, and that cause is in accordance with absolute justice. Men reap a harvest of

suffering because in the near or distant past they have sown the seeds of evil; they reap a harvest of

bliss also as a result of their own sowing of the seeds of good. Let a man meditate upon this, let him

strive to understand it, and he will then begin to sow only seeds of good, and will burn up the tares and

weeds which he has formerly grown in the garden of his heart.

The world does not understand the Love that is selfless because it is engrossed in the pursuit of its own

pleasures, and cramped within the narrow limits of perishable interests mistaking, in its ignorance,

those pleasures and interests for real and abiding things. Caught in the flames of fleshly lusts, and

burning with anguish, it sees not the pure and peaceful beauty of Truth. Feeding upon the swinish husks

of error and self-delusion, it is shut out from the mansion of all-seeing Love.

Not having this Love, not understanding it, men institute innumerable reforms which involve no inward

sacrifice, and each imagines that his reform is going to right the world for ever, while he himself

continues to propagate evil by engaging it in his own heart. That only can be called reform which tends

to reform the human heart, for all evil has its rise there, and not until the world, ceasing from

selfishness and party strife, has learned the lesson of divine Love, will it realize the Golden Age of

universal blessedness.

Let the rich cease to despise the poor, and the poor to condemn the rich; let the greedy learn how to

give, and the lustful how to grow pure; let the partisan cease from strife, and the uncharitable begin to

forgive; let the envious endeavor to rejoice with others, and the slanderers grow ashamed of their

conduct. Let men and women take this course, and, lo! the Golden Age is at hand. He, therefore, who

purifies his own heart is the world‘s greatest benefactor.

Yet, though the world is, and will be for many ages to come, shut out from that Age of Gold, which is

the realization of selfless Love, you, if you are willing, may enter it now, by rising above your selfish

self; if you will pass from prejudice, hatred, and condemnation, to gentle and forgiving love.

Where hatred, dislike, and condemnation are, selfless Love does not abide. It resides only in the heart

that has ceased from all condemnation.

You say, "How can I love the drunkard, the hypocrite, the sneak, the murderer? I am compelled to

dislike and condemn such men." It is true you cannot love such men emotionally, but when you say that

you must perforce dislike and condemn them you show that you are not acquainted with the Great

over-ruling Love; for it is possible to attain to such a state of interior enlightenment as will enable you

to perceive the train of causes by which these men have become as they are, to enter into their intense

sufferings, and to know the certainty of their ultimate purification. Possessed of such knowledge it will

be utterly impossible for you any longer to dislike or condemn them, and you will always think of them

with perfect calmness and deep compassion.

If you love people and speak of them with praise until they in some way thwart you, or do something of

which you disapprove, and then you dislike them and speak of them with dispraise, you are not

governed by the Love which is of God. If, in your heart, you are continually arraigning and

condemning others, selfless Love is hidden from you.

He who knows that Love is at the heart of all things, and has realized the all-sufficing power of that

Love, has no room in his heart for condemnation.

Men, not knowing this Love, constitute themselves judge and executioner of their fellows, forgetting

that there is the Eternal Judge and Executioner, and in so far as men deviate from them in their own

views, their particular reforms and methods, they brand them as fanatical, unbalanced, lacking

judgment, sincerity, and honesty; in so far as others approximate to their own standard do they look

upon them as being everything that is admirable. Such are the men who are centered in self. But he

whose heart is centered in the supreme Love does not so brand and classify men; does not seek to

convert men to his own views, not to convince them of the superiority of his methods. Knowing the

Law of Love, he lives it, and maintains the same calm attitude of mind and sweetness of heart toward

all. The debased and the virtuous, the foolish and the wise, the learned and the unlearned, the selfish

and the unselfish receive alike the benediction of his tranquil thought.

You can only attain to this supreme knowledge, this divine Love by unremitting endeavor in self-

discipline, and by gaining victory after victory over yourself. Only the pure in heart see God, and when

your heart is sufficiently purified you will enter into the New Birth, and the Love that does not die, nor

change, nor end in pain and sorrow will be awakened within you, and you will be at peace.

He who strives for the attainment of divine Love is ever seeking to overcome the spirit of

condemnation, for where there is pure spiritual knowledge, condemnation cannot exist, and only in the

heart that has become incapable of condemnation is Love perfected and fully realized.

The Christian condemns the Atheist; the Atheist satirizes the Christian; the Catholic and Protestant are

ceaselessly engaged in wordy warfare, and the spirit of strife and hatred rules where peace and love

should be.

"He that hateth his brother is a murderer," a crucifier of the divine Spirit of Love; and until you can

regard men of all religions and of no religion with the same impartial spirit, with all freedom from

dislike, and with perfect equanimity, you have yet to strive for that Love which bestows upon its

possessor freedom and salvation.

The realization of divine knowledge, selfless Love, utterly destroys the spirit of condemnation,

disperses all evil, and lifts the consciousness to that height of pure vision where Love, Goodness,

Justice are seen to be universal, supreme, all-conquering, indestructible.

Train your mind in strong, impartial, and gentle thought; train your heart in purity and compassion;

train your tongue to silence and to true and stainless speech; so shall you enter the way of holiness and

peace, and shall ultimately realize the immortal Love. So living, without seeking to convert, you will

convince; without arguing, you will teach; not cherishing ambition, the wise will find you out; and

without striving to gain men‘s opinions, you will subdue their hearts. For Love is all-conquering, all-

powerful; and the thoughts, and deeds, and words of Love can never perish.

To know that Love is universal, supreme, all-sufficing; to be freed from the trammels of evil; to be quit

of the inward unrest; to know that all men are striving to realize the Truth each in his own way; to be

satisfied, sorrowless, serene; this is peace; this is gladness; this is immortality; this is Divinity; this is

the realization of selfless Love.

I stood upon the shore, and saw the rocks

Resist the onslaught of the mighty sea,

And when I thought how all the countless shocks

They had withstood through an eternity,

I said, "To wear away this solid main

The ceaseless efforts of the waves are vain."

But when I thought how they the rocks had rent,

And saw the sand and shingles at my feet

(Poor passive remnants of resistance spent)

Tumbled and tossed where they the waters meet,

Then saw I ancient landmarks ‘neath the waves,

And knew the waters held the stones their slaves.

I saw the mighty work the waters wrought

By patient softness and unceasing flow;

How they the proudest promontory brought

Unto their feet, and massy hills laid low;

How the soft drops the adamantine wall

Conquered at last, and brought it to its fall.

And then I knew that hard, resisting sin

Should yield at last to Love‘s soft ceaseless roll

Coming and going, ever flowing in

Upon the proud rocks of the human soul;

That all resistance should be spent and past,

And every heart yield unto it at last.

5. Entering into the infinite

From the beginning of time, man, in spite of his bodily appetites and desires, in the midst of all his

clinging to earthly and impermanent things, has ever been intuitively conscious of the limited,

transient, and illusionary nature of his material existence, and in his sane and silent moments has tried

to reach out into a comprehension of the Infinite, and has turned with tearful aspiration toward the

restful Reality of the Eternal Heart.

While vainly imagining that the pleasures of earth are real and satisfying, pain and sorrow continually

remind him of their unreal and unsatisfying nature. Ever striving to believe that complete satisfaction is

to be found in material things, he is conscious of an inward and persistent revolt against this belief,

which revolt is at once a refutation of his essential mortality, and an inherent and imperishable proof

that only in the immortal, the eternal, the infinite can he find abiding satisfaction and unbroken peace.

And here is the common ground of faith; here the root and spring of all religion; here the soul of

Brotherhood and the heart of Love,--that man is essentially and spiritually divine and eternal, and that,

immersed in mortality and troubled with unrest, he is ever striving to enter into a consciousness of his

real nature.

The spirit of man is inseparable from the Infinite, and can be satisfied with nothing short of the Infinite,

and the burden of pain will continue to weigh upon man‘s heart, and the shadows of sorrow to darken

his pathway until, ceasing from his wanderings in the dream-world of matter, he comes back to his

home in the reality of the Eternal.

As the smallest drop of water detached from the ocean contains all the qualities of the ocean, so man,

detached in consciousness from the Infinite, contains within him its likeness; and as the drop of water

must, by the law of its nature, ultimately find its way back to the ocean and lose itself in its silent

depths, so must man, by the unfailing law of his nature, at last return to his source, and lose himself in

the great ocean of the Infinite.

To re-become one with the Infinite is the goal of man. To enter into perfect harmony with the Eternal

Law is Wisdom, Love and Peace. But this divine state is, and must ever be, incomprehensible to the

merely personal. Personality, separateness, selfishness are one and the same, and are the antithesis of

wisdom and divinity. By the unqualified surrender of the personality, separateness and selfishness

cease, and man enters into the possession of his divine heritage of immortality and infinity.

Such surrender of the personality is regarded by the worldly and selfish mind as the most grievous of

all calamities, the most irreparable loss, yet it is the one supreme and incomparable blessing, the only

real and lasting gain. The mind unenlightened upon the inner laws of being, and upon the nature and

destiny of its own life, clings to transient appearances, things which have in them no enduring

substantiality, and so clinging, perishes, for the time being, amid the shattered wreckage of its own

illusions.

Men cling to and gratify the flesh as though it were going to last for ever, and though they try to forget

the nearness and inevitability of its dissolution, the dread of death and of the loss of all that they cling

to clouds their happiest hours, and the chilling shadow of their own selfishness follows them like a

remorseless specter.

And with the accumulation of temporal comforts and luxuries, the divinity within men is drugged, and

they sink deeper and deeper into materiality, into the perishable life of the senses, and where there is

sufficient intellect, theories concerning the immortality of the flesh come to be regarded as infallible

truths. When a man‘s soul is clouded with selfishness in any or every form, he loses the power of

spiritual discrimination, and confuses the temporal with the eternal, the perishable with the permanent,

mortality with immortality, and error with Truth. It is thus that the world has come to be filled with

theories and speculations having no foundation in human experience. Every body of flesh contains

within itself, from the hour of birth, the elements of its own destruction, and by the unalterable law of

its own nature must it pass away.

The perishable in the universe can never become permanent; the permanent can never pass away; the

mortal can never become immortal; the immortal can never die; the temporal cannot become eternal

nor the eternal become temporal; appearance can never become reality, nor reality fade into

appearance; error can never become Truth, nor can Truth become error. Man cannot immortalize the

flesh, but, by overcoming the flesh, by relinquishing all its inclinations, he can enter the region of

immortality. "God alone hath immortality," and only by realizing the God state of consciousness does

man enter into immortality.

All nature in its myriad forms of life is changeable, impermanent, unenduring. Only the informing

Principle of nature endures. Nature is many, and is marked by separation. The informing Principle is

One, and is marked by unity. By overcoming the senses and the selfishness within, which is the

overcoming of nature, man emerges from the chrysalis of the personal and illusory, and wings himself

into the glorious light of the impersonal, the region of universal Truth, out of which all perishable

forms come.

Let men, therefore, practice self-denial; let them conquer their animal inclinations; let them refuse to be

enslaved by luxury and pleasure; let them practice virtue, and grow daily into high and ever higher

virtue, until at last they grow into the Divine, and enter into both the practice and the comprehension of

humility, meekness, forgiveness, compassion, and love, which practice and comprehension constitute

Divinity.

"Good-will gives insight," and only he who has so conquered his personality that he has but one

attitude of mind, that of good-will, toward all creatures, is possessed of divine insight, and is capable of

distinguishing the true from the false. The supremely good man is, therefore, the wise man, the divine

man, the enlightened seer, the knower of the Eternal. Where you find unbroken gentleness, enduring

patience, sublime lowliness, graciousness of speech, self-control, self-forgetfulness, and deep and

abounding sympathy, look there for the highest wisdom, seek the company of such a one, for he has

realized the Divine, he lives with the Eternal, he has become one with the Infinite. Believe not him that

is impatient, given to anger, boastful, who clings to pleasure and refuses to renounce his selfish

gratifications, and who practices not good-will and far-reaching compassion, for such a one hath not

wisdom, vain is all his knowledge, and his works and words will perish, for they are grounded on that

which passes away.

Let a man abandon self, let him overcome the world, let him deny the personal; by this pathway only

can he enter into the heart of the Infinite.

The world, the body, the personality are mirages upon the desert of time; transitory dreams in the dark

night of spiritual slumber, and those who have crossed the desert, those who are spiritually awakened,

have alone comprehended the Universal Reality where all appearances are dispersed and dreaming and

delusion are destroyed.

There is one Great Law which exacts unconditional obedience, one unifying principle which is the

basis of all diversity, one eternal Truth wherein all the problems of earth pass away like shadows. To

realize this Law, this Unity, this Truth, is to enter into the Infinite, is to become one with the Eternal.

To center one‘s life in the Great Law of Love is to enter into rest, harmony, peace. To refrain from all

participation in evil and discord; to cease from all resistance to evil, and from the omission of that

which is good, and to fall back upon unswerving obedience to the holy calm within, is to enter into the

inmost heart of things, is to attain to a living, conscious experience of that eternal and infinite principle

which must ever remain a hidden mystery to the merely perceptive intellect. Until this principle is

realized, the soul is not established in peace, and he who so realizes is truly wise; not wise with the

wisdom of the learned, but with the simplicity of a blameless heart and of a divine manhood.

To enter into a realization of the Infinite and Eternal is to rise superior to time, and the world, and the

body, which comprise the kingdom of darkness; and is to become established in immortality, Heaven,

and the Spirit, which make up the Empire of Light.

Entering into the Infinite is not a mere theory or sentiment. It is a vital experience which is the result of

assiduous practice in inward purification. When the body is no longer believed to be, even remotely, the

real man; when all appetites and desires are thoroughly subdued and purified; when the emotions are

rested and calm, and when the oscillation of the intellect ceases and perfect poise is secured, then, and

not till then, does consciousness become one with the Infinite; not until then is childlike wisdom and

profound peace secured.

Men grow weary and gray over the dark problems of life, and finally pass away and leave them

unsolved because they cannot see their way out of the darkness of the personality, being too much

engrossed in its limitations. Seeking to save his personal life, man forfeits the greater impersonal Life

in Truth; clinging to the perishable, he is shut out from a knowledge of the Eternal.

By the surrender of self all difficulties are overcome, and there is no error in the universe but the fire of

inward sacrifice will burn it up like chaff; no problem, however great, but will disappear like a shadow

under the searching light of self-abnegation. Problems exist only in our own self-created illusions, and

they vanish away when self is yielded up. Self and error are synonymous. Error is involved in the

darkness of unfathomable complexity, but eternal simplicity is the glory of Truth.

Love of self shuts men out from Truth, and seeking their own personal happiness they lose the deeper,

purer, and more abiding bliss. Says Carlyle--"There is in man a higher than love of happiness. He can

do without happiness, and instead thereof find blessedness.

... Love not pleasure, love God. This is the Everlasting Yea, wherein all contradiction is solved;

wherein whoso walks and works, it is well with him."

He who has yielded up that self, that personality that men most love, and to which they cling with such

fierce tenacity, has left behind him all perplexity, and has entered into a simplicity so profoundly simple

as to be looked upon by the world, involved as it is in a network of error, as foolishness. Yet such a one

has realized the highest wisdom, and is at rest in the Infinite. He "accomplishes without striving," and

all problems melt before him, for he has entered the region of reality, and deals, not with changing

effects, but with the unchanging principles of things. He is enlightened with a wisdom which is as

superior to ratiocination, as reason is to animality. Having yielded up his lusts, his errors, his opinions

and prejudices, he has entered into possession of the knowledge of God, having slain the selfish desire

for heaven, and along with it the ignorant fear of hell; having relinquished even the love of life itself,

he has gained supreme bliss and Life Eternal, the Life which bridges life and death, and knows its own

immortality. Having yielded up all without reservation, he has gained all, and rests in peace on the

bosom of the Infinite.

Only he who has become so free from self as to be equally content to be annihilated as to live, or to live

as to be annihilated, is fit to enter into the Infinite. Only he who, ceasing to trust his perishable self, has

learned to trust in boundless measure the Great Law, the Supreme Good, is prepared to partake of

undying bliss.

For such a one there is no more regret, nor disappointment, nor remorse, for where all selfishness has

ceased these sufferings cannot be; and whatever happens to him he knows that it is for his own good,

and he is content, being no longer the servant of self, but the servant of the Supreme. He is no longer

affected by the changes of earth, and when he hears of wars and rumors of wars his peace is not

disturbed, and where men grow angry and cynical and quarrelsome, he bestows compassion and love.

Though appearances may contradict it, he knows that the world is progressing, and that

"Through its laughing and its weeping,

Through its living and its keeping,

Through its follies and its labors, weaving in and out of sight,

To the end from the beginning,

Through all virtue and all sinning,

Reeled from God‘s great spool of Progress, runs the golden

thread of light."

When a fierce storm is raging none are angered about it, because they know it will quickly pass away,

and when the storms of contention are devastating the world, the wise man, looking with the eye of

Truth and pity, knows that it will pass away, and that out of the wreckage of broken hearts which it

leaves behind the immortal Temple of Wisdom will be built.

Sublimely patient; infinitely compassionate; deep, silent, and pure, his very presence is a benediction;

and when he speaks men ponder his words in their hearts, and by them rise to higher levels of

attainment. Such is he who has entered into the Infinite, who by the power of utmost sacrifice has

solved the sacred mystery of life.

Questioning Life and Destiny and Truth,

I sought the dark and labyrinthine Sphinx,

Who spake to me this strange and wondrous thing:--

"Concealment only lies in blinded eyes,

And God alone can see the Form of God."

I sought to solve this hidden mystery

Vainly by paths of blindness and of pain,

But when I found the Way of Love and Peace,

Concealment ceased, and I was blind no more:

Then saw I God e‘en with the eyes of God.

6. Saints, sages, and saviors: the law of service

The spirit of Love which is manifested as a perfect and rounded life, is the crown of being and the

supreme end of knowledge upon this earth.

The measure of a man‘s truth is the measure of his love, and Truth is far removed from him whose life

is not governed by Love. The intolerant and condemnatory, even though they profess the highest

religion, have the smallest measure of Truth; while those who exercise patience, and who listen calmly

and dispassionately to all sides, and both arrive themselves at, and incline others to, thoughtful and

unbiased conclusions upon all problems and issues, have Truth in fullest measure. The final test of

wisdom is this,--how does a man live? What spirit does he manifest? How does he act under trial and

temptation? Many men boast of being in possession of Truth who are continually swayed by grief,

disappointment, and passion, and who sink under the first little trial that comes along. Truth is nothing

if not unchangeable, and in so far as a man takes his stand upon Truth does he become steadfast in

virtue, does he rise superior to his passions and emotions and changeable personality.

Men formulate perishable dogmas, and call them Truth. Truth cannot be formulated; it is ineffable, and

ever beyond the reach of intellect. It can only be experienced by practice; it can only be manifested as a

stainless heart and a perfect life.

Who, then, in the midst of the ceaseless pandemonium of schools and creeds and parties, has the Truth?

He who lives it. He who practices it. He who, having risen above that pandemonium by overcoming

himself, no longer engages in it, but sits apart, quiet, subdued, calm, and self-possessed, freed from all

strife, all bias, all condemnation, and bestows upon all the glad and unselfish love of the divinity within

him.

He who is patient, calm, gentle, and forgiving under all circumstances, manifests the Truth. Truth will

never be proved by wordy arguments and learned treatises, for if men do not perceive the Truth in

infinite patience, undying forgiveness, and all-embracing compassion, no words can ever prove it to

them.

It is an easy matter for the passionate to be calm and patient when they are alone, or are in the midst of

calmness. It is equally easy for the uncharitable to be gentle and kind when they are dealt kindly with,

but he who retains his patience and calmness under all trial, who remains sublimely meek and gentle

under the most trying circumstances, he, and he alone, is possessed of the spotless Truth. And this is so

because such lofty virtues belong to the Divine, and can only be manifested by one who has attained to

the highest wisdom, who has relinquished his passionate and self-seeking nature, who has realized the

supreme and unchangeable Law, and has brought himself into harmony with it.

Let men, therefore, cease from vain and passionate arguments about Truth, and let them think and say

and do those things which make for harmony, peace, love, and good-will. Let them practice heart-

virtue, and search humbly and diligently for the Truth which frees the soul from all error and sin, from

all that blights the human heart, and that darkens, as with unending night, the pathway of the wandering

souls of earth.

There is one great all-embracing Law which is the foundation and cause of the universe, the Law of

Love. It has been called by many names in various countries and at various times, but behind all its

names the same unalterable Law may be discovered by the eye of Truth. Names, religions, personalities

pass away, but the Law of Love remains. To become possessed of a knowledge of this Law, to enter

into conscious harmony with it, is to become immortal, invincible, indestructible.

It is because of the effort of the soul to realize this Law that men come again and again to live, to

suffer, and to die; and when realized, suffering ceases, personality is dispersed, and the fleshly life and

death are destroyed, for consciousness becomes one with the Eternal.

The Law is absolutely impersonal, and its highest manifested expression is that of Service. When the

purified heart has realized Truth it is then called upon to make the last, the greatest and holiest sacrifice,

the sacrifice of the well-earned enjoyment of Truth. It is by virtue of this sacrifice that the divinely-

emancipated soul comes to dwell among men, clothed with a body of flesh, content to dwell among the

lowliest and least, and to be esteemed the servant of all mankind. That sublime humility which is

manifested by the world‘s saviors is the seal of Godhead, and he who has annihilated the personality,

and has become a living, visible manifestation of the impersonal, eternal, boundless Spirit of Love, is

alone singled out as worthy to receive the unstinted worship of posterity. He only who succeeds in

humbling himself with that divine humility which is not only the extinction of self, but is also the

pouring out upon all the spirit of unselfish love, is exalted above measure, and given spiritual dominion

in the hearts of mankind.

All the great spiritual teachers have denied themselves personal luxuries, comforts, and rewards, have

abjured temporal power, and have lived and taught the limitless and impersonal Truth. Compare their

lives and teachings, and you will find the same simplicity, the same self-sacrifice, the same humility,

love, and peace both lived and preached by them. They taught the same eternal Principles, the

realization of which destroys all evil. Those who have been hailed and worshiped as the saviors of

mankind are manifestations of the Great impersonal Law, and being such, were free from passion and

prejudice, and having no opinions, and no special letter of doctrine to preach and defend, they never

sought to convert and to proselytize. Living in the highest Goodness, the supreme Perfection, their sole

object was to uplift mankind by manifesting that Goodness in thought, word, and deed. They stand

between man the personal and God the impersonal, and serve as exemplary types for the salvation of

self-enslaved mankind.

Men who are immersed in self, and who cannot comprehend the Goodness that is absolutely

impersonal, deny divinity to all saviors except their own, and thus introduce personal hatred and

doctrinal controversy, and, while defending their own particular views with passion, look upon each

other as being heathens or infidels, and so render null and void, as far as their lives are concerned, the

unselfish beauty and holy grandeur of the lives and teachings of their own Masters. Truth cannot be

limited; it can never be the special prerogative of any man, school, or nation, and when personality

steps in, Truth is lost.

The glory alike of the saint, the sage, and the savior is this,--that he has realized the most profound

lowliness, the most sublime unselfishness; having given up all, even his own personality, all his works

are holy and enduring, for they are freed from every taint of self. He gives, yet never thinks of

receiving; he works without regretting the past or anticipating the future, and never looks for reward.

When the farmer has tilled and dressed his land and put in the seed, he knows that he has done all that

he can possibly do, and that now he must trust to the elements, and wait patiently for the course of time

to bring about the harvest, and that no amount of expectancy on his part will affect the result. Even so,

he who has realized Truth goes forth as a sower of the seeds of goodness, purity, love and peace,

without expectancy, and never looking for results, knowing that there is the Great Over-ruling Law

which brings about its own harvest in due time, and which is alike the source of preservation and

destruction.

Men, not understanding the divine simplicity of a profoundly unselfish heart, look upon their particular

savior as the manifestation of a special miracle, as being something entirely apart and distinct from the

nature of things, and as being, in his ethical excellence, eternally unapproachable by the whole of

mankind. This attitude of unbelief (for such it is) in the divine perfectibility of man, paralyzes effort,

and binds the souls of men as with strong ropes to sin and suffering. Jesus "grew in wisdom" and was

"perfected by suffering." What Jesus was, he became such; what Buddha was, he became such; and

every holy man became such by unremitting perseverance in self-sacrifice. Once recognize this, once

realize that by watchful effort and hopeful perseverance you can rise above your lower nature, and

great and glorious will be the vistas of attainment that will open out before you. Buddha vowed that he

would not relax his efforts until he arrived at the state of perfection, and he accomplished his purpose.

What the saints, sages, and saviors have accomplished, you likewise may accomplish if you will only

tread the way which they trod and pointed out, the way of self-sacrifice, of self-denying service.

Truth is very simple. It says, "Give up self," "Come unto Me" (away from all that defiles) "and I will

give you rest." All the mountains of commentary that have been piled upon it cannot hide it from the

heart that is earnestly seeking for Righteousness. It does not require learning; it can be known in spite

of learning. Disguised under many forms by erring self-seeking man, the beautiful simplicity and clear

transparency of Truth remains unaltered and undimmed, and the unselfish heart enters into and partakes

of its shining radiance. Not by weaving complex theories, not by building up speculative philosophies

is Truth realized; but by weaving the web of inward purity, by building up the Temple of a stainless life

is Truth realized.

He who enters upon this holy way begins by restraining his passions. This is virtue, and is the

beginning of saintship, and saintship is the beginning of holiness. The entirely worldly man gratifies all

his desires, and practices no more restraint than the law of the land in which he lives demands; the

virtuous man restrains his passions; the saint attacks the enemy of Truth in its stronghold within his

own heart, and restrains all selfish and impure thoughts; while the holy man is he who is free from

passion and all impure thought, and to whom goodness and purity have become as natural as scent and

color are to the flower. The holy man is divinely wise; he alone knows Truth in its fullness, and has

entered into abiding rest and peace. For him evil has ceased; it has disappeared in the universal light of

the All-Good. Holiness is the badge of wisdom. Said Krishna to the Prince Arjuna--

"Humbleness, truthfulness, and harmlessness,

Patience and honor, reverence for the wise,

Purity, constancy, control of self,

Contempt of sense-delights, self-sacrifice,

Perception of the certitude of ill

In birth, death, age, disease, suffering and sin;

An ever tranquil heart in fortunes good

And fortunes evil, ...

... Endeavors resolute

To reach perception of the utmost soul,

And grace to understand what gain it were

So to attain--this is true wisdom, Prince!

And what is otherwise is ignorance!"

Whoever fights ceaselessly against his own selfishness, and strives to supplant it with all-embracing

love, is a saint, whether he live in a cottage or in the midst of riches and influence; or whether he

preaches or remains obscure.

To the worldling, who is beginning to aspire towards higher things, the saint, such as a sweet St.

Francis of Assisi, or a conquering St. Anthony, is a glorious and inspiring spectacle; to the saint, an

equally enrapturing sight is that of the sage, sitting serene and holy, the conqueror of sin and sorrow, no

more tormented by regret and remorse, and whom even temptation can never reach; and yet even the

sage is drawn on by a still more glorious vision, that of the savior actively manifesting his knowledge

in selfless works, and rendering his divinity more potent for good by sinking himself in the throbbing,

sorrowing, aspiring heart of mankind.

And this only is true service--to forget oneself in love towards all, to lose oneself in working for the

whole. O thou vain and foolish man, who thinkest that thy many works can save thee; who, chained to

all error, talkest loudly of thyself, thy work, and thy many sacrifices, and magnifiest thine own

importance; know this, that though thy fame fill the whole earth, all thy work shall come to dust, and

thou thyself be reckoned lower than the least in the Kingdom of Truth!

Only the work that is impersonal can live; the works of self are both powerless and perishable. Where

duties, howsoever humble, are done without self-interest, and with joyful sacrifice, there is true service

and enduring work. Where deeds, however brilliant and apparently successful, are done from love of

self, there is ignorance of the Law of Service, and the work perishes.

It is given to the world to learn one great and divine lesson, the lesson of absolute unselfishness. The

saints, sages, and saviors of all time are they who have submitted themselves to this task, and have

learned and lived it. All the Scriptures of the world are framed to teach this one lesson; all the great

teachers reiterate it. It is too simple for the world which, scorning it, stumbles along in the complex

ways of selfishness.

A pure heart is the end of all religion and the beginning of divinity. To search for this Righteousness is

to walk the Way of Truth and Peace, and he who enters this Way will soon perceive that Immortality

which is independent of birth and death, and will realize that in the Divine economy of the universe the

humblest effort is not lost.

The divinity of a Krishna, a Gautama, or a Jesus is the crowning glory of self-abnegation, the end of the

soul‘s pilgrimage in matter and mortality, and the world will not have finished its long journey until

every soul has become as these, and has entered into the blissful realization of its own divinity.

Great glory crowns the heights of hope by arduous struggle won;

Bright honor rounds the hoary head that mighty works hath done;

Fair riches come to him who strives in ways of golden gain.

And fame enshrines his name who works with genius-glowing brain;

But greater glory waits for him who, in the bloodless strife

‘Gainst self and wrong, adopts, in love, the sacrificial life;

And brighter honor rounds the brow of him who, ‘mid the scorns

Of blind idolaters of self, accepts the crown of thorns;

And fairer purer riches come to him who greatly strives

To walk in ways of love and truth to sweeten human lives;

And he who serveth well mankind exchanges fleeting fame

For Light eternal, Joy and Peace, and robes of heavenly flame.

7. The realization of perfect peace

In the external universe there is ceaseless turmoil, change, and unrest; at the heart of all things there is

undisturbed repose; in this deep silence dwelleth the Eternal.

Man partakes of this duality, and both the surface change and disquietude, and the deep-seated eternal

abode of Peace, are contained within him.

As there are silent depths in the ocean which the fiercest storm cannot reach, so there are silent, holy

depths in the heart of man which the storms of sin and sorrow can never disturb. To reach this silence

and to live consciously in it is peace.

Discord is rife in the outward world, but unbroken harmony holds sway at the heart of the universe.

The human soul, torn by discordant passion and grief, reaches blindly toward the harmony of the

sinless state, and to reach this state and to live consciously in it is peace.

Hatred severs human lives, fosters persecution, and hurls nations into ruthless war, yet men, though

they do not understand why, retain some measure of faith in the overshadowing of a Perfect Love; and

to reach this Love and to live consciously in it is peace.

And this inward peace, this silence, this harmony, this Love, is the Kingdom of Heaven, which is so

difficult to reach because few are willing to give up themselves and to become as little children.

"Heaven‘s gate is very narrow and minute,

It cannot be perceived by foolish men

Blinded by vain illusions of the world;

E‘en the clear-sighted who discern the way,

And seek to enter, find the portal barred,

And hard to be unlocked. Its massive bolts

Are pride and passion, avarice and lust."

Men cry peace! peace! where there is no peace, but on the contrary, discord, disquietude and strife.

Apart from that Wisdom which is inseparable from self-renunciation, there can be no real and abiding

peace.

The peace which results from social comfort, passing gratification, or worldly victory is transitory in its

nature, and is burnt up in the heat of fiery trial. Only the Peace of Heaven endures through all trial, and

only the selfless heart can know the Peace of Heaven.

Holiness alone is undying peace. Self-control leads to it, and the ever-increasing Light of Wisdom

guides the pilgrim on his way. It is partaken of in a measure as soon as the path of virtue is entered

upon, but it is only realized in its fullness when self disappears in the consummation of a stainless life.

"This is peace,

To conquer love of self and lust of life,

To tear deep-rooted passion from the heart

To still the inward strife."

If, O reader! you would realize the Light that never fades, the Joy that never ends, and the tranquillity

that cannot be disturbed; if you would leave behind for ever your sins, your sorrows, your anxieties and

perplexities; if, I say, you would partake of this salvation, this supremely glorious Life, then conquer

yourself. Bring every thought, every impulse, every desire into perfect obedience to the divine power

resident within you. There is no other way to peace but this, and if you refuse to walk it, your much

praying and your strict adherence to ritual will be fruitless and unavailing, and neither gods nor angels

can help you. Only to him that overcometh is given the white stone of the regenerate life, on which is

written the New and Ineffable Name.

Come away, for awhile, from external things, from the pleasures of the senses, from the arguments of

the intellect, from the noise and the excitements of the world, and withdraw yourself into the inmost

chamber of your heart, and there, free from the sacrilegious intrusion of all selfish desires, you will find

a deep silence, a holy calm, a blissful repose, and if you will rest awhile in that holy place, and will

meditate there, the faultless eye of Truth will open within you, and you will see things as they really

are. This holy place within you is your real and eternal self; it is the divine within you; and only when

you identify yourself with it can you be said to be "clothed and in your right mind." It is the abode of

peace, the temple of wisdom, the dwelling-place of immortality. Apart from this inward resting-place,

this Mount of Vision, there can be no true peace, no knowledge of the Divine, and if you can remain

there for one minute, one hour, or one day, it is possible for you to remain there always. All your sins

and sorrows, your fears and anxieties are your own, and you can cling to them or you can give them up.

Of your own accord you cling to your unrest; of your own accord you can come to abiding peace. No

one else can give up sin for you; you must give it up yourself. The greatest teacher can do no more than

walk the way of Truth for himself, and point it out to you; you yourself must walk it for yourself. You

can obtain freedom and peace alone by your own efforts, by yielding up that which binds the soul, and

which is destructive of peace.

The angels of divine peace and joy are always at hand, and if you do not see them, and hear them, and

dwell with them, it is because you shut yourself out from them, and prefer the company of the spirits of

evil within you. You are what you will to be, what you wish to be, what you prefer to be. You can

commence to purify yourself, and by so doing can arrive at peace, or you can refuse to purify yourself,

and so remain with suffering.

Step aside, then; come out of the fret and the fever of life; away from the scorching heat of self, and

enter the inward resting-place where the cooling airs of peace will calm, renew, and restore you.

Come out of the storms of sin and anguish. Why be troubled and tempest-tossed when the haven of

Peace of God is yours!

Give up all self-seeking; give up self, and lo! the Peace of God is yours!

Subdue the animal within you; conquer every selfish uprising, every discordant voice; transmute the

base metals of your selfish nature into the unalloyed gold of Love, and you shall realize the Life of

Perfect Peace. Thus subduing, thus conquering, thus transmuting, you will, O reader! while living in

the flesh, cross the dark waters of mortality, and will reach that Shore upon which the storms of sorrow

never beat, and where sin and suffering and dark uncertainty cannot come. Standing upon that Shore,

holy, compassionate, awakened, and self-possessed and glad with unending gladness, you will realize

that

"Never the Spirit was born, the Spirit will cease to be never;

Never was time it was not, end and beginning are dreams;

Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the Spirit for ever;

Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems."

You will then know the meaning of Sin, of Sorrow, of Suffering, and that the end thereof is Wisdom;

will know the cause and the issue of existence.

And with this realization you will enter into rest, for this is the bliss of immortality, this the

unchangeable gladness, this the untrammeled knowledge, undefiled Wisdom, and undying Love; this,

and this only, is the realization of Perfect Peace.

O thou who wouldst teach men of Truth!

Hast thou passed through the desert of doubt?

Art thou purged by the fires of sorrow? hath ruth

The fiends of opinion cast out

Of thy human heart? Is thy soul so fair

That no false thought can ever harbor there?

O thou who wouldst teach men of Love!

Hast thou passed through the place of despair?

Hast thou wept through the dark night of grief?

does it move

(Now freed from its sorrow and care)

Thy human heart to pitying gentleness,

Looking on wrong, and hate, and ceaseless stress?

O thou who wouldst teach men of Peace!

Hast thou crossed the wide ocean of strife?

Hast thou found on the Shores of the Silence,

Release from all the wild unrest of life?

From thy human heart hath all striving gone,

Leaving but Truth, and Love, and Peace alone?

Foundation stones to happiness and success. By

James Allen.

Contents

1. Foreword

2. Right principles

3. Sound methods

4. True actions

5. True speech

6. Equal-mindedness

7. Good results

Editor’s preface

This is one of the last MSS. written by James Allen. Like all his works it is eminently practical. He

never wrote theories, or for the sake of writing, or to add another to his many books; but he wrote when

he had a message, and it became a message only when he had lived it out in his own life, and knew that

it was good. Thus he wrote facts, which he had proven by practice.

To live out the teaching of this book faithfully in every detail of life will lead one to more than

happiness and success — even to Blessedness, Satisfaction and Peace.

LILY L. ALLEN

―Bryngoleu,‖

Ilfracombe,

England.

Foreword

How does a man begin the building of a house? He first secures a plan of the proposed edifice, and then

proceeds to build according to the plan, scrupulously following it in every detail, beginning with the

foundation. Should he neglect the beginning - the beginning on a mathematical plan - his labour would

be wasted, and his building, should it reach completion without tumbling to pieces, would be insecure

and worthless. The same law holds good in any important work; the right beginning and first essential

is a definite mental plan on which to build.

Nature will have no slipshod work, no slovenliness and she annihilates confusion, or rather, confusion

is in itself annihilated. Order, definiteness, purpose, eternally prevail, and he who in his operations

ignores these mathematical elements at once deprives himself of substantiality, completeness,

happiness and success.

JAMES ALLEN

1. Right principles

It is wise to know what comes first, and what to do first. To begin anything in the middle or at the end

is to make a muddle of it. The athlete who began by breaking the tape would not receive the prize. He

must begin by facing the starter and toeing the mark, and even then a good start is important if he is to

win. The pupil does not begin with algebra and literature, but with counting and ABC. So in life – the

businessmen who begin at the bottom achieve the more enduring success; and the religious men who

reach the highest heights of spiritual knowledge and wisdom are they who have stooped to serve a

patient apprenticeship to the humbler tasks, and have not scorned the common experiences of

humanity, or overlooked the lessons to be learned from them.

The first things in a sound life - and therefore, in a truly happy and successful life - are right principles.

Without right principles to begin with, there will be wrong practices to follow with, and a bungled and

wretched life to end with. All the infinite variety of calculations which tabulate the commerce and

science of the world, come out of the ten figures; all the hundreds of thousands of books which

constitute the literature of the world, and perpetuate its thought and genius, are built up from the

twenty-six letters. The greatest astronomer cannot ignore the ten simple figures. The profoundest man

of genius cannot dispense with the twenty-six simple characters. The fundamentals in all things are few

and simple: yet without them there is no knowledge and no achievement. The fundamentals - the basic

principles - in life, or true living, are also few and simple, and to learn them thoroughly, and study how

to apply them to all the details of life, is to avoid confusion, and to secure a substantial foundation for

the orderly building up of an invincible character and a permanent success; and to succeed in

comprehending those principles in their innumerable ramifications in the labyrinth of conduct, is to

become a Master of Life.

The first principles in life are principles of conduct. To name them is easy. As mere words they are on

all men‘s lips, but as fixed sources of action, admitting of no compromise, few have learned them. In

this short talk I will deal with five only of these principles. These five are among the simplest of the

root principles of life, but they are those that come nearest to the everyday life, for they touch the

artisan the businessman, the householder, the citizen at every point. Not one of them can be dispensed

with but at severe cost, and he who perfects himself in their application will rise superior to many of

the troubles and failures of life, and will come into these springs and currents of thought which flow

harmoniously towards the regions of enduring success. The first of these principles is -

DUTY - A much-hackneyed word, I know, but it contains a rare jewel for him who will seek it by

assiduous application. The principle of duty means strict adherence to one‘s own business, and just as

strict non-interference in the business of others. The man who is continually instructing others, gratis,

how to manage their affairs, is the one who most mismanages his own. Duty also means undivided

attention to the matter in hand, intelligent concentration of the mind on the work to be done; it includes

all that is meant by thoroughness, exactness, and efficiency. The details of duties differ with

individuals, and each man should know his own duty better then he knows his neighbour‘s, and better

than his neighbour knows his; but although the working details differ, the principle is always the same.

Who has mastered the demands of duty?

HONESTY is the next principle. It means not cheating or overcharging another. It involves the absence

of all trickery, lying, and deception by word, look, or gesture. It includes sincerity, the saying what you

mean, and the meaning what you say. It scorns cringing policy and shining compliment. It builds up

good reputations, and good reputations build up good businesses, and bright joy accompanies well-

earned success. Who has scaled the heights of Honesty?

ECONOMY is the third principle. The conservation of one‘s financial resources is merely the vestibule

leading towards the more spacious chambers of true economy. It means, as well, the husbanding of

one‘s physical vitality and mental resources. It demands the conservation of energy by the avoidance of

enervating self-indulgences and sensual habits. It holds for its follower strength, endurance, vigilance,

and capacity to achieve. It bestows great power on him who learns it well. Who has realized the

supreme strength of Economy?

LIBERALITY follows economy. It is not opposed to it. Only the man of economy can afford to be

generous. The spendthrift, whether in money, vitality, or mental energy, wasted so much on his own

miserable pleasures as to have none left to bestow upon others. The giving of money is the smallest

part of liberality. There is a giving of thoughts, and deeds, and sympathy, the bestowing of goodwill,

the being generous towards calumniators and opponents. It is a principle that begets a noble, far-

reaching influence. It brings loving friends and staunch comrades, and is the foe of loneliness and

despair. Who has measured the breadth of Liberality?

SELF–CONTROL is the last of these five principles, yet the most important. Its neglect is the cause of

vast misery, innumerable failures, and tens of thousands of financial, physical, and mental wrecks.

Show me the businessman who loses his temper with a customer over some trivial matter, and I will

show you a man who, by that condition of mind, is doomed to failure. If all men practised even the

initial stages of self-control, anger, with its consuming and destroying fire, would be unknown. The

lessons of patience, purity, gentleness, kindness, and steadfastness, which are contained in the principle

of self-control, are slowly learned by men, yet until they are truly learned a man‘s character and success

are uncertain and insecure. Where is the man who has perfected himself in Self-Control? Where he may

be, he is a master indeed.

The five principles are five practices, five avenues to achievement, and five source of knowledge. It is

an old saying and a good rule that ―Practice makes perfect,‖ and he who would make his own the

wisdom which is inherent in those principles, must not merely have them on his lips, they must be

established in his heart. To know them and receive what they alone can bring, he must do them, and

give them out in his actions.

2. Sound methods

From the five foregoing Right Principles, when they are truly apprehended and practised, will issue

Sound Methods. Right principles are manifested in harmonious action, and method is to life what law is

to the universe. Everywhere in the universe there is the harmonious adjustment of parts, and it is this

symmetry and harmony that reveals a cosmos, as distinguished from chaos. So in human life, the

difference between a true life and a false, between one purposeful and effective and one purposeless

and weak, is one of method. The false life is an incoherent jumble of thoughts, passions, and actions;

the true life is an orderly adjustment of all its parts. It is all the difference between a mass of lumber

and a smoothly working efficient machine. A piece of machinery in perfect working order is not only a

useful, but an admirable and attractive thing; but when its parts are all out of gear, and refuse to be

readjusted, its usefulness and attractiveness are gone, and it is thrown on the scrap-heap. Likewise a life

perfectly adjusted in all its parts so as to achieve the highest point of efficiency, is not only a powerful,

but an excellent and beautiful thing; whereas a life confused, inconsistent, discordant, is a deplorable

exhibition of wasted energy.

If life is to be truly lived, method must enter into, and regulate, every detail of it, as it enters and

regulates every detail of the wondrous universe of which we form a part. One of the distinguishing

differences between a wise man and a foolish is, that the wise man pays careful attention to the smallest

things, while the foolish man slurs over them, or neglects them altogether. Wisdom consists in

maintaining things on their right relations, in keeping all things, the smallest as well as the greatest, in

their proper places and times. To violate order is to produce confusion and discord, and unhappiness is

but another name for discord.

The good businessman knows that system is three parts of success, and that disorder means failure. The

wise man knows that disciplined, methodical living is three parts of happiness, and that looseness

means misery. What is a fool but one who thinks carelessly, acts rashly, and lives loosely? What is a

wise man but one who thinks carefully, acts calmly, and lives consistently?

The true method does not end with the orderly arrangement of the material things and external relations

of life; this is but its beginning; it enters into the adjustment of the mind - the discipline of the passions,

the elimination and choice of words in speech, the logical arrangement of the thoughts, and the

selection of right actions.

To achieve a life rendered sound, successful, and sweet by the pursuance of sound methods, one must

begin, not by neglect of the little everyday things, but by assiduous attention to them. Thus the hour of

rising is important, and its regularity significant; as also are the timing of retiring to rest, and the

number of hours given to sleep. Between the regularity and irregularity of meals, and the care and

carelessness with which they are eaten, is all the difference between a good and bad digestion (with all

that this applies) and an irritable or comfortable frame of mind, with its train of good or bad

consequences, for, attaching to these meal-times and meal-ways are matters of both physiological and

psychological significance. The due division of hours for business and for play, not confusing the two,

the orderly fitting in of all the details of one‘s business, times for solitude, for silent thought and for

effective action, for eating and for abstinence - all these things must have their lawful place in the life

of him whose ―daily round‖ is to proceed with the minimum degree of friction, who is to get the most

of usefulness, influence, and joy out of life.

But all this is but the beginning of that comprehensive method which embraces the whole life and

being. When this smooth order and logical consistency is extended to the words and actions, to the

thoughts and desires, then wisdom emerges from folly, and out of weakness comes power sublime.

When a man so orders his mind as to produce a beautiful working harmony between all its parts, then

he reaches the highest wisdom, the highest efficiency, the highest happiness.

But this is the end; and he who would reach the end must begin at the beginning. He must systematise

and render logical and smooth the smallest details of his life, proceeding step by step towards the

finished accomplishment. But each step will yield its own particular measure of strength and gladness.

To sum up, method produces that smoothness which goes with strength and efficiency. Discipline is

method applied to the mind. It produces that calmness which goes with power and happiness. Method

is working by rule; discipline is living by rule. But working and living are not separate; they are but two

aspects of character, of life.

Therefore, be orderly in work; be accurate in speech, be logical in thought. Between these and

slovenliness, inaccuracy and confusion, is the difference between success and failure, music and

discord, happiness and misery.

The adoption of sound methods of working, acting, thinking – in a word, of living, is the surest and

safest foundation for sound health, sound success, sound peace of mind. The foundation of unsound

methods will be found to be unstable, and to yield fear and unrest even while it appears to succeed, and

when its time of failure comes, it is grievous indeed.

3. True actions

Following on Right Principles and Methods come True Actions. One who is striving to grasp true

principles and work with sound methods will soon come to perceive that details of conduct cannot be

overlooked - that, indeed, those details are fundamentally distinctive or creative, according to their

nature, and are, therefore, of deep significance and comprehensive importance; and this perception and

knowledge of the nature and power of passing actions will gradually open and grow within him as an

added vision, a new revelation. As he acquires this insight his progress will be more rapid, his pathway

in life more sure, his days more serene and peaceful; in all things he will go the true and direct way,

unswayed and untroubled by the external forces that play around and about him. Not that he will be

indifferent to the welfare and happiness of those about him; that is quite another thing; but he will be

indifferent to their opinions, to their ignorance, to their ungoverned passions. By True Actions, indeed,

is meant acting rightly towards others, and the right-doer knows that actions in accordance with truth

are but for the happiness of those about him, and he will do them even though an occasion may arise

when some one near to him may advise or implore him to do otherwise.

True actions may easily be distinguished from false by all who wish so to distinguish in order that they

may avoid false action, and adopt true. As in the material world we distinguish things by their form,

colour, size, etc., choosing those things which we require, and putting by those things which are not

useful to us, so in the spiritual world of deeds, we can distinguish between those that are bad and those

that are good by their nature, their aim, and their effect and can choose and adopt those that are good,

and ignore those that are bad.

In all forms of progress, avoidance of the bad always precedes acceptance and knowledge of the good,

just as a child at school learns to do its lessons right by having repeatedly pointed out to it how it has

done them wrong. If one does not know what is wrong and how to avoid it, how can he know what is

right and how to practise it? Bad, or untrue, actions are those that spring from a consideration of one‘s

own happiness only, and ignore the happiness of others, that arise in violent disturbances of the mind

and unlawful desires, or that call for concealment in order to avoid undesirable complications. Good or

true actions are those that spring from a consideration for others, that arise in calm reason and

harmonious thought framed on moral principles or that will not involve the doer in shameful

consequences if brought into the full light of day.

The right-doer will avoid those acts of personal pleasure and gratification which by their nature bring

annoyance, pain, or suffering to others, no matter how insignificant those actions may appear to be. He

will begin by putting away these; he will gain a knowledge of the unselfish and true by first sacrificing

the selfish and untrue. He will learn not to speak or act in anger, or envy, or resentment, but will study

how to control his mind, and will restore it to calmness before acting; and, most important of all, he

will avoid, as he would the drinking of deadly poison, those acts of trickery, deceit, double-dealing, in

order to gain some personal profit of advantage, and which lead, sooner or later, to exposure and shame

for the doer of them. If a man is prompted to do a thing which he needs to conceal, and which he would

not lawfully and frankly defend if it were examined of witness, he should know by that that it is a

wrong act and therefore to be abandoned without a further moment‘s consideration.

The carrying out of this principle of honesty and sincerity of action, too, will further lead him into such

a path of thoughtfulness in right-doing as will enable him to avoid doing those things which would

involve him in the deceptive practices of other people. Before signing papers, or entering into verbal or

written arrangements, or engaging himself to others in any way at their request, particularly if they be

strangers, he will first inquire into the nature of the work or undertaking, and so, enlightened, he will

know exactly what to do, and will be fully aware of the import of his action. To the right-doer

thoughtlessness is a crime. Thousands of actions done with good intent lead to disastrous consequences

because they are acts of thoughtlessness, and it is well said ―that the way to hell is paved with good

intentions.‖ The man of true actions is, above all things, thoughtful:- ―Be ye therefore wise as serpents

and harmless as doves.‖

The term Thoughtlessness covers a wide field in the realm of deeds. It is only by increasing in

thoughtfulness that a man can come to understand the nature of actions, and can, thereby, acquire the

power of always doing that which is right. It is impossible for a man to be thoughtful and act foolishly.

Thoughtfulness embraces wisdom.

It is not enough that an action is prompted by a good impulse or intention; it must arise in thoughtful

consideration if it is to be a true action; and the man who wishes to be permanently happy in himself

and a power for good to others must concern himself only with true actions. ―I did it with the best of

intentions,‖ is a poor excuse from one who has thoughtlessly involved himself in the wrong-doing of

others. His bitter experience should teach him to act more thoughtfully in the future.

True actions can only spring from a true mind, and therefore while a man is learning to distinguish and

choose between the false and the true, he is correcting and perfecting his mind, and is thereby rendering

it more harmonious and felicitous, more efficient and powerful. As he acquires the ―inner eye‖ to

clearly distinguish the right in all the details of life, and the faith and knowledge to do it, he will realise

that he is building the house of his character and life upon a rock which the winds of failure and the

storms of persecution can never undermine.

4. True speech

Truth is known by practice only. Without sincerity there can be no knowledge of Truth; and true speech

is the beginning of all sincerity. Truth in all its native beauty and original simplicity consists in

abandoning and not doing all those things which are untrue, and in embracing and doing all those

things which are true. True speech is therefore one of the elementary beginnings in the life of Truth.

Falsehood, and all forms of deception; slander and all forms of evil-speaking - these must be totally

abandoned and abolished before the mind can receive even a small degree of spiritual enlightenment.

The liar and slanderer is lost in darkness; so deep is his darkness that he cannot distinguish between

good and evil, and he persuades himself that his lying and evil-speaking are necessary and good, that

he is thereby protecting himself and other people.

Let the would-be student of ―higher things‖ look to himself and beware of self-delusion. If he is given

to uttering words that deceive, or to speaking evil of others – if he speaks in insincerity, envy, or malice

- then he has not yet begun to study higher things. He may be studying metaphysics, or miracles, or

psychic phenomena, or astral wonders – he may be studying how to commune with invisible beings, to

travel invisibly during sleep, or to produce curious phenomena - he may even study spirituality

theoretically and as a mere book study, but if he is a deceiver and a backbiter, the higher life is hidden

from him. For the higher things are these – uprightness, sincerity, innocence, purity, kindness,

gentleness, faithfulness, humility, patience, pity, sympathy, self-sacrifice, joy, goodwill, love – and he

who would study them, know them, and make them his own, must practice them, there is no other way.

Lying and evil-speaking belong to the lowest forms of spiritual ignorance, and there can be no such

thing as spiritual enlightenment while they are practised. Their parents are selfishness and hatred.

Slander is akin to lying, but it is even more subtle, as it is frequently associated with indignation, and

by assuming more successfully the appearance of truth, it ensnares many who would not tell a

deliberate falsehood. For there are two sides to slander - there is the making of repeating of it, and there

is the listening to it and acting upon it. The slanderer would be powerless without a listener. Evil words

require an ear that is receptive to evil in which they may fall, before they can flourish; therefore he who

listens to a slanderer, who believes it, and allows himself to be influenced against the person whose

character and reputation are defamed, is in the same position as the one who framed or repeated the evil

report. The evil-speaker is a positive slanderer; the evil-listener is a passive slanderer. The two are co-

operators in the propagation of evil.

Slander is a common vice and a dark and deadly one. An evil report begins in ignorance, and pursues

its blind way in darkness. It generally takes its rise in a misunderstanding. Some one feels that he or she

has been badly treated, and, filled with indignation and resentment, unburdens himself to his friends

and others in vehement language, exaggerating the enormity of the supposed offence on account of the

feeling of injury by which he is possessed; he is listened to and sympathised with; the listeners, without

hearing the other person’s version of what has taken place, and on no other proof than the violent

words of an angry man or woman, become cold in their attitude towards the one spoken against, and

repeat to others what they have been told, and as such repetition is always more or less inaccurate, a

distorted and altogether untrue report is soon passing from mouth to mouth.

It is because slander is such a common vice that it can work the suffering and injury that it does. It is

because so many (not deliberate wrong-doers, and unconscious of the nature of the evil into which they

so easily fall) are ready to allow themselves to be influenced against one whom they have hitherto

regarded as honourable, that an evil report can do its deadly work. Yet its work is only amongst those

who have not altogether acquired the virtue of true speech, the cause of which is a truth-loving mind.

When one who has not entirely freed himself from repeating or believing an evil report about another,

hears of an evil report about himself, his mind becomes aflame with burning resentment, his sleep is

broken and his peace of mind is destroyed. He thinks the cause of all his suffering is in the other man

and what that man has said about him, and is ignorant of the truth that the root and cause of his

suffering lies in his own readiness to believe an evil report about another. The virtuous man - he who

has attained to true speech, and whose mind is sealed against even the appearance of evil-speaking -

cannot be injured and disturbed about any evil reports concerning himself; and although his reputation

may for a time be stained in the minds of those who are prone to suggestions of evil, his integrity

remains untouched and his character unsoiled; for no one can be stained by the evil deeds of another,

but only by his own wrongdoing. And so, through all misrepresentation, misunderstanding, and

contumely, he is untroubled and unrevengeful; his sleep is undisturbed, and his mind remains in peace.

True speech is the beginning of a pure, wise and well-ordered life. If one would attain to purity of life,

if he would lessen the evil and suffering of the world, let him abandon falsehood and slander in thought

and word, let him avoid even the appearance of these things, for there are no lies and slanders so deadly

as those which are half-truths, and let him not be a participant in evil-speaking by listening to it. Let

him also have compassion on the evil-speaker, knowing how such a one is binding himself to suffering

and unrest; for no liar can know the bliss of Truth; no slanderer can enter the kingdom of peace.

By the words which he utters is a man‘s spiritual condition declared; by these also is he finally and

infallibly adjudged, for as the Divine Master of the Christian world has declared, ―By thy words shalt

thou be justified, and by thy words shalt thou be condemned.

5. Equal-mindedness

To be equally-minded is to be peacefully-minded, for a man cannot be said to have arrived at peace

who allows his mind to be disturbed and thrown off the balance by occurrences.

The man of wisdom is dispassionate, and meets all things with the calmness of a mind in repose and

free from prejudice. He is not a partisan, having put away passion, and he is always at peace with

himself and the world, not taking sides nor defending himself, but sympathising with all.

The partisan is so convinced that his own opinion and his own side is right, and all that goes contrary to

them is wrong, that he cannot think there is any good in the other opinion and the other side. He lives in

a continual fever of attack and defence, and has no knowledge of the quiet peace of an equal mind.

The equal-minded man watches himself in order to check and overcome even the appearance of

passion and prejudice in his mind, and by so doing he develops sympathy for others, and comes to

understand their position and particular state of mind; and as he comes to understand others, he

perceives the folly of condemning them and opposing himself to them. Thus there grows up in his heart

a divine charity which cannot be limited, but which is extended to all things that live and strive and

suffer.

When a man is under the sway of passion and prejudice he is spiritually blind. Seeing nothing but good

in his own side, and nothing but evil in the other, he cannot see anything as it really is, not even his

own side; and not understanding himself, he cannot understand the hearts of others, and thinks it is

right that he should condemn them. Thus there grows up in his heart a dark hatred for those who refuse

to see with him and who condemn him in return, he becomes separated from his fellow-men, and

confines himself to a narrow torture chamber of his own making.

Sweet and peaceful are the days of the equal-minded man, fruitful in good, and rich in manifold

blessings. Guided by wisdom, he avoids those pathways which lead down to hatred and sorrow and

pain, and takes those which lead up to love and peace and bliss. The occurrences of life do not trouble

him, nor does he grieve over those things which are regarded by mankind as grievous, but which must

befall all men in the ordinary course of nature. He is neither elated by success nor cast down by failure.

He sees the events of his life arrayed in their proper proportions, and can find no room for selfish

wishes or vain regrets, for vain anticipations and childish disappointments.

And how is this equal-mindedness - this blessed state of mind and life - acquired? Only by overcoming

one‘s self, only by purifying one‘s own heart, for the purification of the heart leads to unbiased

comprehension, unbiased comprehension leads to equal-mindedness, and equal-mindedness leads to

peace. The impure man is swept helplessly away on the waves of passion; the pure man guides himself

into the harbour of rest. The fool says, ―I have an opinion;‖ the wise man goes about his business.

6. Good results

A considerable portion of the happenings of life comes to us without any direct choosing on our part,

and such happenings are generally regarded as having no relation to our will or character, but as

appearing fortuitously; as occurring without a cause. Thus one is spoken of as being ―lucky,‖ and

another ―unlucky,‖ the inference being that each has received something which he never earned, never

caused. Deeper thought, and a clearer insight into life convinces us, however, that nothing happens

without a cause, and that cause and effect are always related in perfect adjustment and harmony. This

being so, every happening directly affecting us is intimately related to our own will and character, is,

indeed, an effect justly related to a cause having its seat in our consciousness. In a word, involuntary

happenings of life are the results of our own thoughts and deeds. This, I admit, is not apparent on the

surface; but what fundamental law, even in the physical universe, is so apparent? If thought,

investigation, and experiment are necessary to the discovery of the principles which relate one material

atom to another, even so are they imperative to the perception and understanding of the mode of action

which relate one mental condition to another; and such modes, such laws, are known by the right-doer,

by him who has acquired an understanding mind by the practice of true actions.

We reap as we sow. Those things which come to us, though not by our own choosing, are by our

causing. The drunkard did not choose the delirium tremens or insanity which overtook him, but he

caused it by his own deeds. In this case the law is plain to all minds, but where it is not so plain, it is

nonetheless true. Within ourselves is the deep-seated cause of all our sufferings, the spring of all our

joys. Alter the inner world of thoughts, and the other world of events will cease to bring you sorrow;

make the heart pure, and to you all things will be pure, all occurrences happy and in true order.

―Within yourselves deliverance must be sought,

Each man his prison makes.

Each hath such lordship as the loftiest ones;

Nay, for with Powers above, around, below,

As with all flesh and whatsoever lives,

Act maketh joy or woe.‖

Our life is good or bad, enslaved or free, according to its causation in our thoughts, for out of these

thoughts spring all our deeds, and from these deeds come equitable results. We cannot seize good

results violently, like a thief, and claim and enjoy them, but we can bring them to pass by setting in

motion the causes within ourselves.

Men strive for money, sigh for happiness, and would gladly possess wisdom, yet fail to secure these

things, while they see others to whom these blessings appear to come unbidden. The reason is that they

have generated causes which prevent the fulfilment of their wishes and efforts.

Each life is a perfectly woven network of causes and effects, of efforts (or lack of efforts) and results,

and good results can only be reached by initiating good efforts, good causes. The doer of true actions,

who pursues sound methods, grounded on right principles will not need to strive and struggle for good

results; they will be there as the effects of his righteous rule of life. He will reap the fruit of his own

actions and the reaping will be in gladness and peace.

This truth of sowing and reaping in the moral sphere is a simple one, yet men are slow to understand

and accept it. We have been told by a Wise One that ―the children of darkness are wiser in their day

than the children of light‖, and who would expect, in the material world, to reap and eat where he had

not sown and planted? Or who would expect to reap wheat in the field where he had sown tares, and

would fall to weeping and complaining if he did not? Yet this is just what men do in the spiritual field

of mind and deed. They do evil, and expect to get from it good, and when the bitter harvesting comes in

all its ripened fullness, they fall into despair, and bemoan the hardness and injustice of their lot, usually

attributing it to the evil deeds of others, refusing even to admit the possibility of its cause being hidden

in themselves, in their own thoughts and deeds. The children of light - those who are searching for the

fundamental principles of right living, with a view to making themselves into wise and happy beings –

must train themselves to observe this law of cause and effect in thought, word and deed, as implicitly

and obediently as the gardener obeys the law of sowing and reaping. He does not even question the

law; he recognises and obeys it. When the wisdom which he instinctively practices in his garden, is

practiced by men in the garden of their minds – when the law of the sowing of deeds is so fully

recognised that it can no longer be doubted or questioned – then it will be just as faithfully followed by

the sowing of those actions which will bring about a reaping of happiness and well-being for all. As the

children of matter obey the laws of matter, so let the children of spirit obey the laws of spirit, for the

law of matter and the law of spirit are one; they are but two aspects of one thing; the out-working of

one principle in opposite directions.

If we observe right principles, or causes, wrong effects cannot possibly accrue. If we pursue sound

methods, no shoddy thread can find its way into the web of our life, no rotten brick enter into the

building of our character to render it insecure; and if we do true actions, what but good results can

come to pass; for to say that good causes can produce bad effects is to say that nettles can be reaped

from a sowing of corn.

He who orders his life along the moral lines thus briefly enunciated, will attain to such a state of insight

and equilibrium as to render him permanently happy and perennially glad; all his efforts will be

seasonally planted; all the issues of his life will be good, and though he may not become a millionaire

as indeed he will have no desire to become such – he will acquire the gift of peace, and true success

will wait upon him as its commanding master.

Men and systems. By James Allen

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Men and systems; Their correlations and combined results

3. Work, wages, and well-being

4. The survival of the fittest as a divine law

5. Justice in evil

6. Justice and love

7. Self-protection: animal, human, and divine

8. Aviation and the new consciousness

9. The new courage

Introduction

THE unceasing change, the insecurity, and the misery of life make it necessary to find some basis of

certainty on which to rest if happiness and peace of mind are to be maintained. All science, philosophy,

and religion are some many efforts in search of this permanent basis; all interpretations on the universe,

whether from the material or spiritual side, are so many attempts to formulate some unifying principle

or principles by which to reconcile the fluctuations and contradictions of life.

it has been said that mathematics is the only exact science; that is, the only science that eternally works

out true without a single exception. Yet mathematics is but the body of which ethics is the spirit. There

is not a mathematical problem but has its ethical counterpart, and the spirit of ethics is as eternally

exact as the form of mathematics.

It is being discovered that all natural sciences are fundamentally mathematical. Even music popularly

considered to be as far removed from mathematics as possible-is now known to be strictly

mathematical. The science of harmony revealed certain fixed tones which never vary in their relative

proportions, and all of which can be numerically resolved. These tones, like the numbers which

represent them, are eternally fixed; and though their combinations- also like the combinations of

numbers- are infinite, a given combination will always produce the same result.

This mathematical foundation in all things is the keystone in the temple of science; and this

mathematical certainty constitutes the "rock of ages," and the "great peace," on which and in which the

saints and sages have ever found rest from the stress and turmoil of life.

Human life and evolution at present is the learning of those preliminary lessons which are leading the

race towards the mastery and understanding of this basic or divine knowledge; for without such a

permanent, exact mathematical basis no lesson could be learnt. When human beings are spoken of as

learning the lessons of God or of life, two things are inferred, namely; (1) A state of ignorance on the

part of the learner, and (2) that there is some definite knowledge which he has to acquire. This is seen

plainly in a child at school. Its lessons imply that there is a permanent principle of knowledge towards

which it is progressing. Without such knowledge there could be no lessons.

Thus, when one speaks of erring men as learning the lessons of life, he infers, whether he realizes it or

not, the existence of a permanent basis of knowledge towards the possession of which all men are

moving.

This basic principle, a knowledge of which the whole race will ultimately acquire, is best represented

by the term Divine Justice. Human justice differs with every man according to this own light or

darkness, but there can be no variation in that Divine Justice by which the universe is eternally

sustained. Divine Justice is spiritual mathematics. As with figures and objects, whether simple or

complex, there is a right and unvarying result, and no amount of ignorance or deliberate falsification

can ever make it otherwise, so with every combination of thoughts or deeds, whether good or bad, there

is an unvarying and inevitable consequence which nothing can avert.

If this were not so, if we could have effect without cause, or consequence unrelated to act, experience

could never lead to knowledge, there would be no foundation of security, and no lessons could be

learnt.

Thus every effect has a cause, and cause and effect are in such intimate relationship as to leave no room

for injustice to creep in. Nevertheless, there is ignorance, and, through ignorance, the doing of life‘s

lessons wrongly; and this doing of life‘s sums wrongly is that error, or sin, which is the source of man‘s

sufferings. How often the child at school weeps because it cannot do its sums correctly! And older

children in the school of life do the same thing when the sum of their actions has worked out in the

form of suffering instead of happiness.

The ground of certainty, then, on which we can securely rest amid all the incidents of life is the

mathematical exactitude of the moral law. The moral order of the universe is not, cannot, be

disproportionate, for if it were the universe would fall to pieces. If a brick house cannot stand unless it

be built in accordance with certain geometrical proportions, how could a vast universe, with all its

infinite complexities of form and motion, proceed in unbroken majesty from age to age unless guided

by unerring and infallible justice?

All the physical laws with which men are acquainted never vary in their operations. Given the same

cause, there will always be the same effect. All the spiritual laws with which men are acquainted have,

and must have, the same infallibility in their operations. Given the same thought or deed in a life

circumstance, and the result will always be the same. Without this fundamental ethical justice there

could be no human society, for its is the just reactions of the deeds of individuals which prevents

society from tottering to its fall.

It thus follows that the inequalities of life, as regards the distribution of happiness and suffering, are the

outworking of moral forces operating along lines of flawless accuracy, this perfect law, is the one great

fundamental certainty in life, the finding of which ensures a man‘s perfection, makes him wise and

enlightened, and fills him with rejoicing and peace.

Take away a belief in this certainty from a man‘s consciousness, and he is adrift on a self created ocean

of chance, without rudder, chart, or compass. He has no ground on which to build a character or life, no

incentive for noble deeds, no center for moral action; he has no island of peace and no harbor of refuge.

Even the crudest idea of God as of a great man whose mind is perfect, who cannot err, and who has

"no, variables nor shadow of turning," is a popular expression of a belief in this basic principle of

Divine Justice.

According to this principle there is neither favor nor change, but unerring and unchangeable right. Thus

all the sufferings of men are right as effects, their causes being the mistakes of ignorance; but as effects

they will pass away. Man cannot suffer for something which he has never done, or never left undone

for this would be an effect without a cause.

Man suffers through and himself. Where the effect is there is the cause. Its seat is within, not without.

The things which men are reaping to-day are of the same kind which they formerly sowed. The good

man of to-day may be reaping the results of past evil; the bad man of to-day may be reaping the results

of past good. Seen thus, this divine principle throws an illuminating light on those cases (common

enough) where the good suffer and fail, and the bad enjoy and prosper. Things as they are did not

spring into existence without a cause. They have behind them a long train of causes and effects, and

another such train will follow them in the future. In viewing the objects in a landscape we allow for

perspective; we must do the same in viewing events.

This principle of Divine Justice is not distinct from Divine Law. It is the same. Partial men separate

justice from love, and even regard them as antagonistic, but in the divine life they blend into one.

Nothing can transcend right. Nothing can be more loving than that we should experience the sequences

of ignorance and error, and so become "perfected through suffering." In this Divine Love, which never

alters, never errs, never passes over a single deed, we have a sure rock of salvation, for that which

could shift and change could afford no foothold. Only in the unchangeable, the eternally true, is there

permanent peace and safety. Resorting to this divine principle, abandoning all evil, and cling to good,

we come to a knowledge and realization of that basis of certainty on which we can firmly stand through

all life‘s changes; we have found the rock of ages and the refuge of the saints.

JAMES ALLEN

"BRYNGOLEU,"

ILFRACOMBE.

1. Men and systems

Their correlations and combined results

THERE is to-day a widespread revolt against those modes of human activity designated "Systems," and

these systems are almost invariably referred to as something distinct from, and yet directing,

controlling, or tyrannizing over, humanity itself. Thus the leaders in the revolt referred to speak of the

"commercial system", the "social system", the "competitive system," the "political system," and so on;

and the particular system condemned is made responsible for-made the cause of -certain widespread

evils, such as poverty, vice, &c., as though "systems" were some sort of discarnate and gigantic

despots, enslaving and crushing an innocent and unwilling humanity.

Such an arbitrary and external form of system has no existence; it is a delusion. Human systems cannot

be separated from human desires and needs; they are, indeed, the visible outworking of those desires

and needs. A system is none other than the combined and concerted mode of action of the community;

it signifies a tacit agreement on the part of all, or nearly all, that things should be so and so; it is a

method in which human kind agree to act. And as men act, so systems appear; as they cease to act, so

they disappear.

And let it be understood that such agreement to act has no reference to, or bearing upon, a man‘s

attitude towards a system-whether for or against- but depends upon his actions. A man may violently

condemn a system with his lips, yet show that he is in agreement with it in his heart by the fact that he

continues to act in accordance with it, to follow it out in his daily life. We are all aware of that form of

religious hypocrisy (nearly always unconscious) that continues to commit the sin which it violently

denounces; thus showing, in practice, a fundamental agreement with that which, superficially and ion

theory, is opposed. And this form of unconscious inconsistency is not confined to religion; it is a

pronounced factor in all moral activities, and is nowhere more strongly in evidence than in those

directions where the reform of "existing systems" is, theoretically at any rate, the primary aim. Thus,

when i have asked some socialists, who condemn the present capitalist system as a system of getting

rich on the labor of the poor, why they themselves life on dividends- that is, on the fruits of other men‘s

labor, thus propagating every day that which they denounce as an evil-the reply almost invariably has

been, "You should blame the system, not me." This reply shows that such people regard themselves as

the helpless victims of a tyrannical something which exists external to, and independent of , themselves

and their actions, and which they call a "system." But a little reflection will show that which they

denounce as the "system" is none other than the viewing as evil certain actions in others which they

regard as good in themselves.

Human systems are human modes of action which are dependent for their continuance on a

fundamental tacit agreement among men to continue to act in the same way; and such agreement

implies that those who continue to enact any particular system must be prepared to meet and to accept

its disadvantages as well as its advantages; for in the struggle for advantage there must always be the

corresponding disadvantage; in the battle of human interests there must always be both victory and

defeat.

Viewed in this light, the term "innocent victims of the system," so much in vogue, is seen to be shallow

and delusive. There are no innocent victims of a system in which all engage either in the letter or the

spirit; if guilt there be, then all are guilty, and the innocence is superficial and apparent, not

fundamental and real. In reality, however, there is neither innocence nor guild attached to a human

system which has evolved through long processes of struggle and time. There is merely the victory and

happiness on the one hand, and the defeat and misery on the other; and the defeated are not the

innocent, nor the victorious the guilty, for both these conditions in social life are the just effects of

men‘s actions, as victory and defeat attach to a battle or a race.

To make this more plain, let us take a simple illustration. Here are ten men who mutually agree to

engage, among themselves, in certain forms of gambling. Now, the object of each of these men is to

win, and so increase his wealth, yet they all know that there is also the possibility of losing; know,

indeed, that some must lose, for such is the unavoidable hazard of the game. Immediately these men

commence to act, by laying down their stakes, they have created a system which might be called "the

gambling system," and the advantages and disadvantages of such a system soon become apparent.

There is ceaseless fluctuation of their combined wealth-some winning and becoming rich, and then

again losing and becoming poor; but ultimately some lose all they possess and have to retire defeated,

while others acquire the losers‘ part and become rich on their gains.

Now, it cannot be said of the winners that they are guilty of exploiting and crushing down the losers;

nor can it be said of the losers that they are the innocent victims of the system of gambling in which

they are engaged. In the mental attitude and actions of these ten men there is neither innocence nor

guilt, but a mutual engagement in a method, with its inevitable results, namely, the reaping of its

advantages on the one hand, the suffering from its disadvantages on the other.

In like manner, of the various systems in which men have involved themselves, there are no innocent

victims, no guilty tyrants. Victims there are, if men choose to apply that term to the defeated, or to

those who, for the time being, are suffering loss; but they are the victims of their own deeds, and not of

an overruling and compelling injustice outside themselves. Of the ten men who engage in gambling,

none are victimized, none can possibly be victimized, but themselves. Those outside the system- that is,

those who do not encourage and propagate it by their acts- remain untouched, uninjured by it. So if our

present commercial system should be a "system of greed," as many social reformers style it, then not

by any possibility whatever could any but the greedy be injured by it.

Doubtless there is much greed in the world, for in its present stage of evolution humanity is learning its

lessons largely along selfish paths; but greed can never have any existence in external "system," it can

only exist in human hearts; nor can greed injure any but the greedy. Commercialism is free from greed

in the hands of those who have destroyed greed in themselves. But they who are greedily will taint

everything-even religion-with their own impure condition.

Industrialism, the outworking of a nation‘s energies and abilities, is wholesome and noble; it is

covetousness which produces woe, and the sole sufferers from covetousness are the covetous

themselves.

I will here anticipate the common query, "What of the innocent victims of the rapacious company

promoter?" by replying (and this reply will be found adaptable to all human conditions and systems)

they are not innocent, but have the same attitude of mind as the unscrupulous company promoter,

namely, the desire to obtain money, and as much of its as possible, without laboring for it. The

company promoter is the instrument through whom they reap the results of their own greed, and fall

victims to their own covetousness.

Social reformers may denounce the system of "capitalism" or "commercialism", but so long as they

themselves continue to enact that side of commercialism which is most akin to covetousness, namely,

its speculative as distinguished from its industrial side, by keeping a keen eye to "good investments,"

and following up increased "dividends" with avidity, just so ling will that which they call "a system of

greed" (and indeed to them it is such) continue.

Those who are striving to life by speculation, on the fruits of another‘s labors or who have the spirit to

do should the opportunity arise (and the number of those who are anxious to acquire money without

giving its equivalent is very large), should not bemoan the existence of want and poverty, but should

perceive and receive such conditions as the inevitable disadvantages of the method which they are

acting out, as luxury and riches are its advantages.

The hope of one day becoming suddenly rich without working for it, and living ever after a life of

unbroken ease, is a common chimera among the poor. While covetousness continues to sway the

human mind, want and poverty will continue.

Men desire, and then they act, and they combined acts constitute what men call "systems". The ten

gamblers desired to increase their wealth without laboring for it, and at each other‘s loss, and they

acted accordingly. Their combined actions constituted the system with its combination of results.

Systems are, therefore, deeds- combined and reciprocal of a number of individuals; and the so-called

evils in the world which men attribute to systems as distinguished from men are the reactions upon

individuals of their own deeds.

A system cannot be "unjust," because men inevitably reap the just effects of their own deeds. The evils

which prevail in the world are indications of justice, not injustice. Poverty and want are the natural

disadvantages of the present social life, or system- that is, of the way in which men agree to act. There

is suffering, but there is not injustice. It could not be said of those among the ten gamblers who were

reduced to poverty that they were treated unjustly by the winners, or that they were the innocent

victims of the system of gambling. Their lot was just; their poverty being the, inevitable result of their

own actions.

Recently a socialist friend of mine was somewhat violently condemning landlords and landlords, and i

pulled him up by saying," But why do you condemn landlords, seeing that you are one yourself? Have

you not, only a few weeks ago, added another piece of land to that which you already possessed?" He

replied, "It‘s the system, not me. So long as the present system lasts I shall have to work with it; but

when it is altered, i shall be willing to give up my land."

If a gambler of were continually condemning the "system" of gambling as a bad one, and yet continued

to gamble, we should justly say that he was confused both in his morals and perceptions; and he is

equally confused who, while condemning any other system, social, political, or whatsoever, yet

continues to act it out. Such a man does not, in his heart, regard the system as bad, but as good and just;

this is evidenced by the fact that he continues to propagate it by his actions.

Systems are to men as light to the sun, rain to the clouds, or thoughts to the mind. They are both men

and the deeds of men. To regard them as separate from men is confusion of thought and principle. Nor

can there possibly be any injustice in their outworking, for the reaction of ignorant deeds is certain; the

recompense of enlightened deeds is sure.

I see no evil in systems; i see evil in ignorance and wrong-doing. All systems are legitimate, for men

have liberty to act in their own way. The ten gamblers who mutually agree to enrich and impoverish

each other have nobody to blame but themselves; and if the winners are satisfied with their gains, the

losers should be equally satisfied with their losses; if they are not, then they should look to themselves

and remedy their deeds. Their poverty is good discipline, in that it is driving them to seek a better way

of action.

If a man regards a system as bad, he should withdraw from it in practice, and should bend his actions in

another direction; for immediately two men act in concert a system is formed, and the good and the bad

which lurk in their actions will soon be manifested in the system which they have launched forth.

In the life of humanity, in systems, in what are called good and bad, are visible the outworking of the

combined results of men‘s deeds; and in all, through all, and over all, justice reigns eternally

triumphant.

2. Work, wages, and well-being

ACTIVITY is a necessity of existence, and usefulness is the object of being. Nature at once cuts off

that which has become useless. Her economy is faultless, and she will not be burdened with things

which have ceased to be of service in her progressive workshop. Nor does she allow her handy tools to

lie unused, nor her bright things to rust. Where so ever there is ability, there also are scope and

opportunity; where there is energy, there also are legitimate channels for its exercise; where there is a

soaring mind, the means of achievement are ready to hand. As the field waits for the plough, the sea for

the ship-, and the port for produce, so Nature in all her departments, whether material or mental, stands

ready to co-operate with man in all his labors, and to reward him according to his diligence and

industry. The statement, "There is no scope for my abilities," is either an expression of vanity, an

excuse for negligence, or a confession of lack of resource, or of inability to utilize opportunity. Ability

need never lie unused for a moment. There is unlimited scope for all abilities. All that is required is the

capacity for work.

Of all abilities, the capacity for work is the most useful and necessary, and its possession is a glorious

power; and this men discover when they are disabled, or stricken down with sickness. When they are

thus forcibly prevented from engaging in wholesome, invigorating labor, what would they not give to

have once again the spirited and glowing use of brain or muscle, or to spend exuberant strength in

healthful exertion?

Work is of two kinds- it is either loving labor or enforced slavery. The man whose sole object is to get

through his work in order to draw his pay, who has no love for, and no interest in his work, beyond

what it represents in cash, is a slave and not a true worker. He labors only under the compulsion of

necessity. His entire interest is in getting instead of in doing. He gives his labor irk somely and

perfunctorily, but receives his pay with eagerness, striving, when he things he safely can, to give less

and less labor, and get more and more wages. "Less work and more pay," is the cry of slaves, and not of

men.

On the contrary, the man whose heart is centered in his work, who aims at the perfect performance of

his duty, is a true worker whose usefulness and influence are cumulative and progressive, carrying him

on from success to greater and greater success, from low spheres of labor to higher and higher still.

Thinking little or nothing of the wages, and much of reward, but eager and willing in service, he is

sealed by Nature as one of her chosen sons, fitted by virtue of his unselfish labors to receive the greater

excellence and fuller reward.

For while full recompense may, and frequently does, escape the man who covetously seeks it, it cannot

be withheld from him who ignores it in his work. For the true recompense is never withheld, but in the

selfish desire to secure the recompense without giving its equivalent, disappointment is the pay

received, and the expected reward does not appear.

The wages of work are sure. In the universal economy no man is cheated; he cannot be defrauded of his

just earnings, for every effort receives its proportionate result; first work as the cause, and then wages

as the effect. But while wages is the result, it is not the end; it is only a means to a still greater and more

far-reaching result and end, namely, the progress and increased happiness both of the individual and the

race-in word, to wellbeing.

The receiving of so much money for work done does not represent wages in its entirety; it is, indeed,

only a small portion of the actual wages of true work; while the man who considers that the end of

work is reached when he has received the money due receives all he bargains for, he does not derive

complete satisfaction from his labors, nor comprehend or enter the higher spheres of knowledge and

usefulness which are reserved for the devotes of unselfish duty.

It is a day of definitely marked progress in the life of a man when, by the illumination of spirit which

proceeds from the development of higher sense of duty, he passes from the burdensome sphere of

slavery to the happy world of work; when he leaves behind him the grasping and bartering, the

drudgery and humiliation, and, accepting his place among his fellows, becomes a cheerful co-operator

with humanity, and a willing and happy instrument in the economy of things.

Such a man receives the completion of wages in its sevenfold fullness as follows:

1. Money

2. Usefulness.

3. Excellence.

4. Power

5. Independence

6. Honor

7. Happiness

First, he receives the full amount of money of which his work is the equivalent; but in addition to this,

his usefulness to the world is increased, and continues to increase in an ever ascending degree; and this

greater usefulness is one of the pure delights of labor, for one of the chief rewards of use is to be of

greater use. To the slave, idleness is coveted as the reward of labor; but the worker rejoices in more

work still.

This accumulating usefulness leads to the wages of excellence-skill, a growing perfection in the work

undertaken; and every child that has learned its lesson, and every man and woman that has mastered a

problem or a language, or surmounted a great difficulty, is acquainted with the happiness which is the

sure accompaniment of such success, although not until later do they realize the full significance of all

that is involved in such success in relation to their career.

For a point of excellence is at last reached which merges into power-knowledge, mastery. The man who

is devoted to his work becomes at last a master in that work, whatever it may be. He becomes a teacher,

a guide, and instructor to others who are treading the lower levels of the path up which he has climbed.

He is sought out by others for the knowledge which he has acquired through practice and experience.

He is relied upon, and takes his proper place amongst those who lead and serve mankind. Power is a

form of wages received as the result of long and arduous labor. It is received only by him who has built

it up, so to speak, unselfish toil leads to the reaping of power.

Associated with power is independence. The true worker takes his place among his fellows as a useful

citizen. The fearless flash of honesty is in his eyes, the ring of worth is in his voice, and the

steadfastness of self-reliance is in his gait. He is not a drone in the human hive, but stands out in

shining contrast to the skulking shirker who imagines that the highest good in life is to get something

without working for it. The slave who goes to his hated work only because he is whipped to it by

necessity comes down to beggary and shame, and is despised and neglected; but the true worker

ascends into independence and honor, and is admired and sought.

Honor- This is one of the higher forms of wages, and it comes unerringly and unsought to all who are

energetic and faithful in the work of their life. It may be, and often is, late in coming, but come it must

and does, and always at its own proper time; for while money is the first and smallest item in wages,

honor is one of the last and greatest; and the greater the honor, the longer and harder is the course of

labor by which it is earned. There are degrees of honor according to the measure of usefulness, and the

greatest men receive the greatest honor.

They who receive the fullness of wages, receive the fullness of happiness, for true work as surely

brings about happiness as idleness and enforced labor are paid in the coin of unhappiness. From the

perfection of happiness proceeds well-being -a quiet conscience, a satisfied heart, a tranquil mind, and

the consciousness of having increased the happiness and aided in the progress of mankind through the

full and faithful exercise of one‘s abilities.

First work, and then wages; but well-being only follows when the work is of the true kind, when it is

loved for its own sake, and when the money received for such work is utilized for further work and

better achievement instead of being squandered in folly and self-indulgence. Even he who only works

for the pay in coin will derive just the measure of well-being which that pay can purchase if he spends

it carefully, and will thus aid, in a small measure, industrial progress; but he can also, by a foolish use

of his wages, make it an instrument of ill-being, and reduce himself to a dead and useless limb on the

tree of life.

It is demanded by the law of things that every man shall receive the equivalent of what he gives. If he

gives idleness, he receives inactivity- death; if gives stinted and unwilling service, he receives stinted

and hardly secured pay; if he gives loving and generous labor, he recipes generous recompense in a life

replete with blessedness.

It may here be asked, "But what about the toiling masses? What you say may be, and doubtless is, true

of certain favored individuals, but how can it apply to the vast army of millworks and factory hands,

whose toil is long and hard and almost purely mechanical?"

It applies with equal force to them. There are no favored individuals; and there was a time when those

who now occupy the high places stood in the low. There is no reason why the mill-worker should not

be unselfish in his labor and faithful and conscientious in duty; and there is every reason why he should

economize his entire financial, physical, and mental resources, using his money for the improvement of

his home and surroundings, and his evenings and spare time in the culture of his intellectual and moral

powers. He will thus be preparing himself for higher spheres of usefulness and power, which will not

be withheld from him when he is sufficiently equipped and strengthened to deal with intricate matters

and carry weighty responsibilities; while the process of preparation itself will be one of ever-increasing

knowledge, strength, and happiness.

Work, wages, and well-being are three broad stages in individual and racial evolution; and the political

economy of the future will take into account those higher mental and spiritual forms of wages which it

now ignores, but which are still the most powerful factors in the well-being of men and nations.

Well indeed will it be for that nation which is the first to realize and wisely utilize the fact that its

prosperity and happiness are not limited to its material resources, but that in the mental and spiritual

material of its inhabitants it possesses inexhaustible mines of living resources which, when worked

with the tools of suitably evolved educational methods, will afford rich yields of prosperity and peace;

that the surest and swiftest way to even material success as well as to all the higher and nobler

successes is by the assiduous cultivation of character.

3. The survival of the fittest as a divine law

NATURE and Spirit were at one time universally considered to be at enmity, and even to-day the

majority of people regard them as opposed to each other; but a fuller knowledge of the Cosmos reveals

the sublime fact that the natural and the spiritual are two aspects of One Eternal Truth.

Nature is the Spirit made visible and tangible. The seen is the expressed form and letter of the unseen.

We search in trackless deserts of speculation to find the Real, while all the time it stands before us. The

return from those weary and fruitless wanderings to Truth is a coming back to the simple and obvious;

but whereas we went out with sealed eyes, we come back with them unsealed; we look upon Nature

with a vision clarified from ignorance and egotism, and lo! the unclean has become clean, the mortal

has become immortal, the natural is seen to be also the spiritual. Thus, when the physical scientist

reveals a natural law, he, at the same time, makes known to the understanding mind- whether he

himself knows it or not- a spiritual law. The whole universe is spiritual, and every physical law is the

letter of a moral principle. When the moral nature of the Cosmos is apprehended, all controversies

about matter and spirit- as things opposed are at an end, and the assiduous worker in physical realms-

often spoken of contemptuously as a "materialist"- is seen to be a revealer, as well as the worker in

spiritual realms, the two phases of the universe being, as we have pointed out, but two arcs of one

perfect whole.

When Charles Darwin made known the law of "the survival of the fittest," he revealed the working of

Divine Justice in Nature. The almost universal prejudice and passionate opposition among religious

people which the announcement of his discovery aroused was based, not on the fact itself, but upon a

total misunderstanding of that law. That opposition has to-day nearly died out; but even yet one

frequently hears this law referred to as a "cruel law", and the belief in it denounced as tending to

destroy pity and love.

Such people always think of this law as "the survival of the cruelest," or "the survival of the strongest,"

and here is where the misunderstanding arises. The correct term, "The Survival of the Fittest," must not

be lost sight of; for the fittest are never the cruelest, and rarely the strongest. The strongest and curliest

creatures have long since passed away, and have given place to weaker, but more intelligent, creatures

and beings. Think of the numberless insects, and of the many powerful enemies which beset them on

every hand. Yet these wonderful and beautiful creatures continue to flourish, and they owe their

continuance to their intelligence, which is greater, better and more fitted to survive than the strength

and cruelty of their enemies. For what is the survival of the fittest but the survival of the best? In a

world of continual progress it must needs be that the best of every period takes precedence of the

worst-the good of the bad, the fit of the unfit. This, indeed, is the very meaning of progress. When we

think of progress, we at once think of something, by its superiority- its greater fitness to the time and

occasion-taking precedence f something which is inferior and has fallen out of the line of advancement;

and this progress, this advancement, this survival of the fittest, resolves itself into a moral principle,

into a Divine Law.

Opponents of this teaching tacitly assume that the most selfish are the fittest to survive, and they

thereupon condemn the teaching as callous, and accuse Darwin of making selfishness supreme. But the

error is theirs, and not Darwin‘s or the law‘s. In their prejudice they wrest his meaning to a false issue,

and attack that. Their error consists in assuming that the fittest to survive are the most selfish; whereas

such are the worst specimens, and not the best. When we realize that the unselfish are more fitted to

survive than the selfish, this law assumes an aspect the very opposite from that which its opponents

have given it, and we at once see that in it are involved the profoundest moral principles, namely, the

principles of Justice and Love.

Remembering that it is the fittest that survive, what, then-in this universe of law and order-constitutes

the fittest? It is evident that the fittest are the most advanced specimens of any given species. Not the

strongest, not the cruelest, not the most selfish, not even the finest physically; but the most advanced,

those most in line with the order of evolution

The fittest at one period are not the fittest at another. There was a time when brute force was dominant;

but that was when nothing higher had been evolved. Yet even in that long distant period-ten million

years back, when gigantic monsters held sway upon the earthy-something higher was being evolved.

Already intelligence, yea, and unselfish love, were beginning to make themselves felt, for those great

beasts loved and protected their young; and so all who most unselfishly shield their offspring, be they

beasts or men, will be most protected while, obviously, any species that neglected its offspring would

rapidly perish. Thus, long, long ages ago, the fragile babe of intelligence was born in the manager of

brute force, and since then, through all the ages of struggle, it has been gradually but surely overcoming

the brutal strength and terror; so that to-day intelligence has conquered, or almost conquered, for the

strongest brutes have passed away for ever, having given place to beings physically weaker and

smaller, but better, and more morally perfect.

Without the operation of such a law man could never have come into existence; for man is, up to the

present, the crown and summit of a process of struggle, selection, and progress which began many

millions of years ago when the first of life appeared upon the earth. Man is the product of the law of the

survival of the fittest operating through millions of years, perhaps millions of ages; yet in brute strength

he is far inferior to many animals. He rules the earth to-day because of the principle of intelligence

within him. But there is being evolved in man a higher principle than intelligence, namely, Divine

Love, which is as much higher and more powerful than intelligence as intelligence is higher and more

powerful than brute force. I use the term "Divine Love" in order to distinguish it from human affection,

and from that intermittent kindly impulse, which are both spoken of as Love. Intelligence may aid

selfishness, but not so Love; in Love all selfishness is swallowed up and brute force is no more, both

being transmuted into gentleness.

The beginnings of the Divine Love are already in the world. We see its wonderful operation in the few

men in who0m it has been perfected, namely, the Great Spiritual Teachers who, by their precepts and

the example of their lives, rule the world to-day; and selfish men worship them as God. We see in these

men the prophecy of what Love will do in the distant future, when a large number of men possess it in

an advanced degree; how selfishness and selfish men will submit to it and be governed by it, as the

brutes now submit to man‘s intelligence and are ruled by it. And this Love is making its appearance not

only in the Great Teachers, but in men less evolved; and though in these it is, as yet, in a more or less

rudimentary form, nevertheless the stirrings of its gentleness and joy are being felt in many human

hearts.

A common argument against the survival of the fittest is that were men to put it into practice they

would kill off all their weakling and invalids, preserving only the strong, and thus destroying all pity

and love and humanity. This argument is a demonstration of the error to which we have already

referred. It is ludicrously self-contradictory, for, while it admits that the best elements are pity and love

and humanity, it asserts that these would perish if the fittest, or best survived. And here we are at the

heart of the whole matter. The best does survive, and, therefore, pity, compassion, and love cannot be

overthrown by selfishness is for every annihilated.

Speaking of human beings, it is plain that the fittest to survive are not the selfish and the cruel, but

those who have developed the finest characteristics of kindness, compassion, justice, and love- in a

word, the most moral, the purest, and wisest.

To talk about putting this law "into practice" shows ignorance of its nature; for it is independent in its

operation, and is always in activity, and all men and creatures obey it; and should ever a race of men,

under them is taken notion that they were practicing it, do it such violence as to "kill off their weaklings

and invalids," the law would not cease to operate in their case, and they, by virtue of that very law,

would soon exterminate themselves.

With the ceaseless march of human progress, cruelty is becoming less and less fitted to survive against

the growing intelligence and gentleness. The cruel races have nearly all died out, only disorganized

remnants of them remaining. The fierce animals of prey are becoming fewer, and brutal men are now

regarded as a menace to society. Gradually and inevitably, also, selfish and aggressive men will come

to have less and less power in the world, will become more out of harmony with the growing

environment of peace and goodwill, till at last they will pass away from the earth altogether, as the

gigantic brutes have passed away, no longer fitted to survive in a world conquered by Love, in which

righteousness and truth become triumphant.

Thus this law, as represented by Darwin, is the aspect, in Nature, of the operation of Justice, or Love;

for in the Light of Truth, Justice and Love are seen to be one. The spiritual aspect of the law was

intimately known by all the Great Teachers, and men have overlooked the fact that these Teachers

embodied it in their teaching. Thus the precept of Jesus, "The meek shall inherit the earth," is none

other than a simple but Divine statement of the survival of the fittest.

4. Justice in evil

TO-DAY we frequently meet with the assertion, "All is good." Pope, in his famous easy on man, said:

"Whatever is, is right"

and nearly all are familiar with Browing‘s oft-quoted line:

"God‘s in His heaven, all‘s right with the world."

In the face of these statements, the questions naturally arise: Are war and famine good? Are sickness

and poverty good? Are sorrow and suffering good? These things belong to the category of the great

facts of human life; are they good? Again, are sin and selfishness right? Are drunkenness and brutality

right? Are crime and violence right? Are accidents by sea and land right? Are catastrophes involving

hundreds of thousands of lives right? These things, like the former, are everyday facts. They are real,

and cause widespread suffering; are they right?

Many persons must have questioned thus during the past years of unprecedented catastrophes in the

form of volcanic eruptions, earthy quakes, floods, famines, wars, and various forms of crimes and

violence.

Are these things right? If so, why are men so eager to escape them? Even those who are given to

quoting, "Whatever is, is right," will, in the next breath, refer to certain "evils," and propose some

method of being rid of them.

It is plain that, in the sense of adding to human happiness, these things are not right, for they conduce

to human misery. Even those who deny the existence of evil in theory recognize it in practice, in their

efforts to conquer it.

Nevertheless, those statements as to the Universal Good and the rightness of all things are true. It is all

a matter of relativity. The recognition of evil, and the statement that all is good, are not contradictory.

When the events of life are related to human happiness, then some are recognized as "good," and some

as "evil"; but when they are related to the fundamental and eternal principle of Justice, then all things

are seen to be good, right, in harmony with the Great Law of inviolable Equity.

Take a simple example-that of physical pain. When we are considering human happiness, bodily pain is

an evil; but when we consider the principle of Life itself, and its protection and continuance, then

physical pain is seen to be good, as it is a warning. Monitor urging man to the protection of his body

from hurt and extinction.

And it is with mental pain as with physical-with sorrow, remorse, loneliness, and grief it is evil because

it destroys happiness; but as the effect of ignorance and wrong-doing, it is just, and therefore good, as it

urges men to seek the paths of wisdom and right doing.

The prophet Isaiah says:

"I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these

things."

He thus recognizes the justice of evil, that it has its place in the moral universe as the opposite of good,

just as darkness has its place in the physical universe as the opposite of light.

The prophet Amos expresses the same thing when he says:

"Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hat not done it?"

The writings of the Hebrew prophets in the Old Testament teem with statement of the truth that evil is

rooted in justice, not in injustice; that all the afflictions and calamities which overtake men spring from

some violation, on man‘s part, of the moral law. So pronounced are they upon this point that they even

attribute the suffering caused by purely external occurrences - such as floods, storms, earthquakes,

drought, and dearth of food-to man‘s inward unrighteousness and his consequent departure from the

Divine Order.

And, indeed, a profound acquaintance with the human heart and with human life does reveal the great

truth-a truth never apparent on the surface, and therefore hidden from the shallow and unthinking-that

all tragedy is the culminating point in the conflict of human passions. Where there are no violent

passions there can be no tragedy, no disaster, no catastrophe. When humanity has attained to inward

harmony and peace, it will be free from all those forms of violence which now devastate the world, and

scourge humankind with grief and lamentation.

Maeterlinck perceives this truth clearly, for in his Wisdom and Destiny he says:

"Fatality shrinks back abashed from the soul that has more than once conquered her; there

are certain disasters she dare not send forth when this soul is near.

"The mere presence of the sage suffices to paralyze destiny; and of this we find proof in the

fact that there exists scarce a drama wherein a true sage appears; when such is the case, the

event must needs halt before reaching bloodshed and tears. Not only is there no drama

wherein sage is in conflict with sage, but indeed there are very few whose action revolves

round a sage. And truly; can we imagine that an event shall turn into tragedy between men

who have earnestly striven to gain knowledge of self? It is rarely indeed that though it be

for an instant. They are afraid of a lofty soul, for they know that events are no less afraid;

and were there heroes to soar to the height the real hero would gain, their weapons would

fall to the ground, and the drama itself become peace - the peace of enlightenment."

It is a significant fact that while Shakespeare depicted nearly every type of character, he never brought

a sage into his dramas. The truth is that his tragedies could not have taken place in the presence of a

sage. Their outward violence stands related as effect to the hidden cause of disordered and conflicting

passions. The sage has lifted himself above such disorder and conflict, and such is the power of his

harmonious and tranquil spirit that in his presence the passions of others will be calmed and subdued,

and their approaching tragic issue averted.

It is a mighty truth, and one which stands clearly revealed in the mind of the sage and the prophet, that

all the evils of humanity spring from the ignorance, and, therefore, from the mistakes, the wrong-doing,

of humanity itself. It is, therefore, just and right. But though just and right, it is not desirable; it is evil,

and needs to be transcended. It is just and right, as imprisonment is just and right for the thief, in that it

teaches man, and ultimately brings him to the feet of wisdom. As physical pain is a protector of man‘s

body, so mental pain is a protector of his mind and of his life.

From man‘s ignorance of the Divine Law-of the Moral Order of the universe-arise those thoughts and

passions-inward conditions-which are the source of tragedy, disaster, catastrophe. Envy, ill-will,

jealousy, produce strife and quarrelling, and ultimately bring about wars in which thousands are killed

and disabled, and hundreds of homes are filled with mourning. Greediness, self-indulgence, and the

thirst for pleasure lead, through gluttony, indolence, and drunkenness, to disease, poverty, and plague.

Covetousness, lust, and selfishness in all its forms cause men to practice deception, lying, and

dishonesty, and to strive against others in the blind pursuance of their petty plans and pleasures, thus

leading to deprivation, loss and ruin; and where there are excessively violent passions there is always a

violent life ending in a premature and violent death.

Man, by his ignorance, his selfishness, his darkness of mind, is the marker of sorrow and the cause of

catastrophe. His sufferings are indications that the Divine Law has been arrested, and is now asserting

itself. The tragic darkness of his life is the outcome of that same Justice from which his joyful light

proceeds. If every suicide, every ruin, every woe, even every accident, could be traced to its original

cause in the moral constitution of things, its justice would be found to be without blemish.

And that which applies to individuals applies in the same way to nations. Widespread selfishness leads

inevitably to widespread disaster; national corruption is followed by wholesale catastrophe, and by

national disaster and ruin.

And not alone poverty, disease, and famine, but even earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and all

such external happenings, would be found, in their original cause, to be intimately related to men‘s

moral life. That external accidents have a moral cause is plainly seen in the case of violent persons

bringing about fatal accidents to themselves through folly and recklessness.

Man‘s body, both by chemical and gravitational affinity, is a portion of the earth, as his mind, both

spiritually and ethically, is a portion of the Moral Order of the universe. His life and being are

interwoven with, and are inseparable from; the very nature and constitution of things; and, being a

moral entity, and therefore a reasonable agent, it is within the domain of his power to discover and

work with the Divine Law instead of striving against it.

All man‘s pains, afflictions, disasters, calamities, are the shock resulting from running, either

percipiently or blindly, giants the Moral Law, as a reckless rider or blind man is hurt when he runs up

against a wall; and these sorrows are not the arbitrary visitations and punishments of an offended Deity,

but are matters of cause and effect, just as the pain of burning is the effect of coming into too close

contact with fire.

In these days of social, political, and theological conflicts, and with wars, famines, floods, crimes,

conflagrations, and volcanic and seismic catastrophes taking place on every hand, a return to the study

of the Hebrew prophets burning, as they are, with the fire of Truth on national matters and local

catastrophes-would prove not only scientifically enlightening, but would help considerably towards

unveiling, in the mind of man, the revelation of the beauty and order of the Cosmos and the perfect

justice of human life.

The evils of life are right because of the cause which man has created; but man, having created causes

which produce evil, can also create causes which produce good, and when in inward passions are tamed

and subdued, the outward violence will disappear, or will be powerless to hurt mankind.

Between the inward violence of surging passions and the outward violence of Nature there is such a

close correspondence as to render them, in the inner order of things, of one indivisible essence. As the

prophet Amos again puts it:

"For they know not to do right, faith the Lord, who store up violence and robbery in their

places. Therefore thus faith the Lord God: An adversary there shall be even round about the

land; and he shall bring down they strength from thee, and thy places shall be spooled."

The outward "adversary" is necessary to nullify the inward violence, is brought into existence by it.

When a nation becomes corrupt, it is conquered and swallowed up. When cities become morally

bankrupt, they fall to pieces, or are destroyed by some outward force.

5. Justice and love

ONE frequently hears justice referred to as being opposed to love. Such an error arises out of lack of

understanding of the profound and comprehensive significance of these two principles, for two divine

laws cannot stand in opposition or contradiction to each other. Two basic laws, both admittedly good,

must harmonize; otherwise one would be evil, for good cannot oppose good. The antagonism which

men place between justice and love does not exist in reality; it is an error arising from ignorance of the

true nature and right application of the principles involved.

The element of kindness is never absent from justice; if it were, it would be weak emotionalism and not

love. There is often more love in a server reproof than in a yielding acquiescence. The father who has

little love for his child, though he may not treat it cruelly, will not take pains to train it properly; but the

father who has great love for his child will train it with a firm yet gentle hand. He will be just to his

child because he loves it. He will administer correction and reproof when necessary, that his child may

profit thereby.

Justice is not separate from love; love is not separate from justice. The essential oneness of the two

principles is simply expressed in the divine edict: "Whatsoever a man swath, that shall he also reap." It

is in accordance both with perfect love and perfect justice that man should reap the good results of his

good deeds, and the bad results of his bad deeds. All men admit this theoretically, though the majority

refuse to recognize the operation of such a law in the universe, arguing, when overtaken with trouble,

that in their case they are not reaping what they have sown, as they have never done anything to call for

such misfortune, but are suffering innocently (unjustly), or are afflicted through the wrong-doing of

others.

Such a law, however, obtains, and those who will search long enough, and look deep below the surface

of things, will find it, and be able to trace with precision its faultless working. Nor would a right-

minded man wish it to be otherwise. He would know that the kindest thing that could be done to him

would be that he should suffer the full penalty of all his mistakes and wrong-doing, so that he might

thereby grow more rapidly in virtue and wisdom. Petitions to Deity to abrogate the just punishment of

sins committed are without avail, and can only spring from an immature moral sense. Woe indeed

would descend upon man if the law of justice could thus be set aside.

Self-afflicted and torn with sorrow as he now is, there is hope in the law which bestows no special

favors and is unfailingly just. But if man by offering up a prayer could escape the effects of his bad

deeds, then justice would be non-existent; and as for love, where would it be? For if one could thus be

deprived of his bad earnings, what assurance could he have of not being robbed of his good earnings?

Thus the ground of salvation would be cut away, and caprice and despotism would take the place of

love and justice.

As a coin, which is one, has two distinct sides, so love and justice are two aspects of the same thing.

Men do not perceive the love that is hidden in justice, nor the justice that hidden love, because they

perceive only one side, and do not to turn these principles round, as it were, and see them in their

completion.

Justice, being a divine principle, cannot contain any element of cruelty. All its apparent harshness is the

chastening fire of love. Man himself, and not the law per se, has brought about all the afflictions which

are working for his ultimate happiness and good. Love reigns supreme in the universe because justice is

supreme. A tender and loving hand administers the rod of chastisement. Man is protected, even against

himself. Love and justice are one.

6. Self-protection: animal, human, and divine

MANY and wonderful are the means and methods of self-protection in this world of combat! Natural

history has revealed the fact that even plants employ means of self-protection; and when we come to

the animal world, the methods adopted to avoid annilitation in the struggle for life are so numerous and

remarkable as to call forth our admiration and wonder. Nor in this fight for life is "the battle to the

fierce and the race to the strong" in all cases. Indeed, the weak things of nature exhibit such ingenuity

in the means which they adopt to escape their enemies, that they are equally successful in holding their

own with the fiercest creatures that have few enemies to fear. The insects, weakest of all creatures, have

developed this self-protective ingenuity to a remarkable degree, even to imitating in color and form the

twinges upon which they rest, adopting the hue of the soil or the dead or living leaves among which

they live; and in some cases, through long experience, they have so closely imitated in color and form

certain flowers which they habitually haunt that their enemies the birds, keen as is their sight, pass

them by; and even man, with all his intelligence, cannot distinguish them from the flowers unless he

had had some experience as an observant naturalist. The smallest fishes adopt similar means of

concealing themselves, although they are in the lowest class of animal life.

When we come to the quadrupeds (although the weaker and smaller among them, those most hunted by

the larger, adopt ruses similar to those which prevail among the insects and fishes), brute strength

largely takes the place of stratagem. The beast has developed powerful weapons of defense, such as

horns, fangs, claws &c., combined with an iron or lithe muscularity, with which he maintains his place

on the earth, and defies extinction. Endurance, speed, strength, and ferocity are the means of self-

protection among the brutes.

Animal self-protection reaches its highest excellence in the superb strength and cunning of the lion and

the tiger, yet it appears weak and clumsy when compared with the means of self-protection adopted by

man; for self-preservation, although it is not all-powerful in the human as in the animal world is still a

dominant impulse among human beings. Man is possessed of the entire animal nature and the animal

impulses and instincts are strong within him; but there is along with this animal life an added

intelligence and moral sense-a self-consciousness -- by virtue of which his self-protective scope and

power are greatly enlarged and intensified. He is still an animal, with endurance, speed, strength, and

ferocity; but he is also something more and greater-he is an intelligent, self-conscious being.

Among men of low order of intelligence the animal methods still largely obtain. In the struggle of life

the savage relies on brute strength. Even among civilized communities there are still thousands of

admirers of "the noble art of self-defense," which can only be noble in the sense that we speak of the

ferocity of the lion as being noble; and is devoid of art, being compounded entirely of brute force and

cunning. Indeed, this practice is so closely allied to the beast that it has long ceased to be a means of

self-defense among civilized men, and has become merely a vulgar pastime for the few.

Working along physical lines, and still following the well-worn track of animal instinct, man has

invented numerous implements of destruction by which to annihilate his enemy and preserve himself;

and upon these, with increasing ingenuity and subtlety, he continues to improve. Working along the

new path of pure intelligence-which is pre-eminently the human as distinguished from the animal

sphere of activity-he discovers means of adding to his physical comforts and for the peaceful protection

of his body, and asserts his right and power to live, not by brute force, but by toil of hand and keenness

of brain. The basic struggle here, indeed, is not directly a fight for food and life, but for the artificial

means by which food is procured and life maintained, namely, money. The fierce animal struggle has

evolved into the more kindly human one; in place of the bloody strife with tooth and claw there is the

more amicable combat of wit and skill. Man has discovered- though he has as yet only partially learned

this- that there are better methods of self-protection than that of attacking, killing, and despoiling

others; that by such a method he endangers his own comfort, happiness, and even life; and that it is

better to engage in a bloodless competition for supremacy, and leave every person to take his place in

life according to the measure of his mental capacity.

Right has begun to take the place of might; and although the struggle is largely one for money, it is not

altogether so, but is surely evolving into one for the securing of those mental qualities which increase

man‘s nobility, and better fit him as an instrument of life and progress. Such are the intellectual

qualities of reason, judgement, tact, foresight, ingenuity, resource, inventiveness; and the moral

qualities of kindness, forbearance, sympathy, forgiveness, reverence, honesty, justice. Human education

at present is almost entirely along these intellectual and moral lines. The instruments by which man

struggles with man for the capacity to live and to endure are faculties, not fangs; talents, not talons.

Intellectual and moral excellence constitute the passport to existence in the human world.

The intellectually vigorous and the morally upright take the lead in the race of life. Nevertheless, the

weaker ones take their place, and have scope and opportunity for development. Slowly man is learning

that in the protection of others- the weak, the suffering, and the afflicted-he is affording a surer

protection for himself.

Such methods of self-protection we perceive an enormous advance upon the savage instinct of the

brute. Commerce, crafts, and games take the place of plunder and destruction; and limited animal

affection is enlarged to benevolence and philanthropy. In human competition the brute still lurks, but its

ferocity is subdued; its nature is largely transmuted into something better, more beneficent; its dark

horror is lightened up with the warm rays of kindness; its harshness is softened by the gentleness of a

larger and ever-increasing love.

But high as is human over animal self-protection, there is another, form of self-protection that is as high

above the human as that is above the animal, and that is divine or spiritual protection. By this method

the man does not fight with others physically, after the manner of the brute; he does not struggle with

others mentally, as does the human being; he fights with the brute within himself, in order to annihilate

it; he struggles with the greed in his own nature, that he may fit himself to live the higher, nobler, more

enduring life of peace, goodwill, and wisdom.

In divine protection the fierce struggle with others is at and end, the competition of self-interest is no

more, and the weapons employed are self-sacrifice and non-resistance. And these weapons can only be

understood and employed by him whose moral elevation is such as to gain him admittance to the World

of Divine Things. Just as the fanged and tallied brute cannot grasp and use those mental weapons of

resource and inventiveness which the more highly endowed and talented human being employs with

such ease and power, so the self-seeking man cannot comprehend and wield those instruments of self-

sacrifice and non-resistance with which the divine man not merely shields himself but protects the

whole world.

Self-interest, resistance to, and competition with others, are the most powerful factors in the purely

human life; but in the divine life, self-obliteration, and deep-felt sympathy with, and compassion for

others, are the dominant motives.

The divine man conquers by non-retaliation and by yielding where others enter into selfish strife; and

his gentle powers are so invincible that the lesser selfish powers, great and potent as those are when

compared with the merely animal equipment‘s, dissolve away in ineffectual weakness. As bestial

instincts cannot vie with human powers, so human powers cannot stand against divine principles; and

the divine man stands upon, and acts from, such principles. In him the human qualities mentioned are

merged into the divine principles of Patience, Humility, Purity, Compassion, and Love.

Both the animal and the human are concerned only with the protection and preservation of the body,

which is temporal; but the divine man‘s preservation is concerned with the spirit, which is eternal, like

the principles upon which he stands. In a word, divine preservation consists in preserving the mind

from passion and selfishness, and imbuing it with pureness and wisdom.

We get a glimpse into the vast power inherent in self-sacrifice and non-resistance when we contemplate

the lives and characters of the few divine men who practiced these principles - in Jesus, Buddha, and

others. All men, broadly speaking, yield and bow down to these great Masters in Divine Things. Men

who have reached the greatest heights in worldly achievement-monarchs, conquerors, successful

generals, statesmen, orators, financiers- bow in humble reverence and awe before the names of those

Great Ones, recognizing intuitively that their own conquests and achievements, with all their worldly

glory, are as nothing compared with that supreme self-conquest, that mighty spiritual achievement,

which those gentle teachers of mankind exhibited. To-day some five hundred millions of people bow

down to Buddha as their Guide and Master, and some three hundred millions likewise bend before

Jesus as their Saviour and the Keeper of their lives.

In these three methods of self-protection-animal, human, and spiritual-we perceive the fundamental

forces which are at work in the evolution of sentient beings; an evolution beginning with the lowest

creature and extending to the deviants being of whom we have any direct knowledge. We also see that

there is no inherent evil in any of these methods, that all are equally legitimate, and belong to the

cosmic order of things. Each in its own sphere is right and necessary, leading to higher and higher

intelligence, and deeper and deeper knowledge. The animal defends itself in accordance with its nature

and the limits of its knowledge; the human being protects itself likewise in harmony with the dictates of

his human nature; and the divine being eternally preserves himself in peace and blessedness by virtue

of his clearer insight and deeper wisdom.

Nor is any measure of force lost during the process of evolution. The brute passion is, in man,

transmuted into intellectual and moral energy, and in the divine man both are merged into control and

equanimity.

7. Aviation and the new consciousness

DR. BUCKE, in his work Cosmic Consciousness, published some ten years ago, stated that aerial

navigation would become an accomplished fact in the near future, and that it would revolutionize the

social and economic conditions of the world.

So far as the advent of the new means of travel is concerned, he has proved to be a true prophet, and i

am convinced that his prophecy of its revolutionizing aspect will shortly begin to be proved true. Of

this great revolution in its completion Dr. Bucke says:

"Before aerial navigation boundaries, tariffs, and perhaps, distinctions of language will fade

out. Great cities will no longer have reason for being, and will melt away. The men who

now dwell in cities will inhabit, in summer, the mountains and the sea shores; building

often in airy and beautiful spots, now almost or quite inaccessible, commanding the most

extensive and magnificent views. In the winter they will probably dwell in communities of

moderate size. As the herding together, as now, in great cities, so the isolation of the worker

of the soil will become a thing of the past. Space will be practically annihilated; there will

be no crowding together and no enforced solitude."

The above is a beautiful picture of the result upon human society of the discovery of aviation, and it

will no doubt prove true. Not that such a condition will be brought about rapidly. It will at least require

several hundred years, and it is highly probable that it will be several thousand years before it is fully

realized. As yet we are only in the crudest beginnings of flying, and the mastery of the air as a medium

of human transit affords more scope for improvement and invention than any of the mechanical modes

of locomotion hitherto employed. Invention will follow upon invention, through a long period of time,

until men will be able to propel themselves through the air with a swiftness, a safety, and a skill

perhaps equal to that of the migratory birds for the swiftest type. It was Edison who long years ago

declared that the ultimate and perfected flying-machine would be built on the principle of the bird.

While conforming more or less to this principle, the present machines are more on the principle of the

kite, the motor-driving power taking the place of the string. In his book The Coming Race Lord Lytton

describes the individuals of that race as each possessing a pair of mechanical wings which were under

the complete control of the operator, and by means of which he soared into their and propelled himself

gracefully through space. Doubtless this will be form which the perfected flying-machine will take, and

it conforms to that "principle of the bird" referred to by Edison.

But the phase of aviation with which we are here concerned is that which connects it with the evolving

consciousness of man; for out of that self-consciousness, which is now man‘s dominant condition, and

which is inevitably connected with struggle and suffering, with labor and sorrow, the beginnings of a

higher, diviner form of consciousness are making their appearances. From man‘s present state of

imperfection, combined with ceaseless aspiration towards a better, but as yet undefined, state, there is

surely coming, as form a matrix, a new order of life, a more blessed condition, a greatly evolved form

of consciousness hitherto unknown to man except in a few isolated cases.

Invention is allied to progress-is, indeed, an outward manifestation of inward growth. All man‘s

inventions are adaptations to his expanding consciousness, and they definitely mark important turning-

points in the evolution of the race. At the moment man‘s necessity the new and needed thing appears.

Just as the human intellect was preparing to break from the bonds of old superstitions, and sally forth in

joyous and untrammeled freedom, the printing press appeared as the chief instrument of man‘s

liberation. The coming of the steam engine tallied with the accelerated speed of human thought as it

began to shake off its ancient lethargy; and when the expanding human mind could no longer move in a

contracted local circle, or remain satisfied with petty selfish differences, the locomotive came forth to

meet man‘s wider range, and to afford him scope for his increased mental activities and enlarged

sympathies.

And now another invention has entered the field of actuality; one growing out of, yet more important

than, any which have preceded it- that of flying. Man has hitherto employed the solid earth and the less

solid water as the medium of material transit; but now he is to make and obedient servant of the

tenuous atmosphere, using it to speed bird-like directly to his desired destination. And this is an

important outward sign of the new stride in evolution which the race is now taking. Rapid and restless

changes are marking the present transition period. Old religions and forms of government are passing

away. New modes of thought and action are everywhere appearing. Man‘s consciousness is expanding.

The human form of consciousness is about to touch, is indeed touching, the point of completion, and

from it there will spring, is already springing, the Divine form of consciousness which is destined to

transform the entire human race. For under that the reign of consciousness nearly everything, as it at

present obtains in the world, will be reversed. Man, being then Divine, will act divinely. All those

powerful human passions which now dominate the race, and are the chief springs of action, will then

take a subordinate place, and will be under the control and guidance of man‘s Divine will and wisdom.

He will be master of himself and master of the earth.

Already man has been feeling the growing wings of this new consciousness wherewith he will soar into

the highest regions of knowledge and blessedness. For ages, and under the guise of numerous religions,

he has aspired to it, and the prophets have foretold it, and now he is to obtain his Divine birthright.

Aviation is the first outward symbol, as it were, of this new mind which is now taking shape. It is also

more than a symbol, for its will form the first important material instrument by the aid of which the

new consciousness will begin to materialize its glorious ideas and magnificent schemes for the

happiness of to-day is misery compared with that blessed state which will obtain on the earth when the

Divine condition has become well established.

The beginnings of this new condition, as aided by aviation, will be noticed in the breaking down of

certain material limitations between man and man, and between nations, and the disappearance of war;

along with it will come a free and fraternal industrial intercourse between the nations, and a growing

tendency to adopt in practice those fundamental religious principles which are universal, and thus to

inaugurate one great world-wide religion. As aviation becomes more perfected, and enters into man‘s

economical schemes, these new conditions-the first seedlings, as it were, of the new consciousness-will

begin to appear, for when men are rapidly fitting from country to country, from continent to continent,

on "the wings of the wind," they will be brought so close together, both socially and industrially, that

the old animosities which now exist between them will die out, the old national barriers will quietly

break down and disappear, and, without any revolutionary upheaval, the nations will become as one

country, sinking all those interests which are not for the mutual good of all nations.

The locomotive is an instance of the above, though in the region of self-consciousness, in that it

rendered civil war impossible, making of each nation, formerly dividend against itself, a united family

working harmoniously together. Aviation, however, will be connected with a higher region of

consciousness altogether, namely, the cosmic consciousness, and its results will be much more striking

and more far-reaching than those which have hitherto taken place in man‘s self-conscious condition.

At present we are only in the experimental stage of aviation, but this will be quickly followed by the

economic stage, in which flying will be adapted to human travel and mercantile uses; and almost

immediately this is reached the new conditions is societies and nations will begin to manifest

themselves, and once having commenced they will gradually absorb the old forms of life, using them as

material on which to feed their growing beauty and grandeur. And new and grand men will arise having

this higher consciousness, and they will be the leading instruments in establishing this new order of

things upon the earth.

8. The new courage

THE virtue of courage is generally referred to in its physical manifestation, and it is significant in this

particular- that its symbol is a beast of prey, namely, the lion. The dictionary rendering adheres to this

physical aspect of courage, for on turning up the word I find its meanings are given as "bravery,

fearlessness, intrepidity," no other rendering being given. The solider is the human type of courage, and

the current sayings concerning courage are: "As courageous as a lion" and "As brave as a solider."

The lion and the solider are alike fearless in attack and defense, and both will forfeit life rather than

yield; but it is an entirely animal physical attack and defense. Courage, however, cannot be confined to

this phase-indeed, this is its lowest manifestation -for it has many aspects, many modes of action; and

as man rises in the moral and spiritual scale his courage becomes transmuted, taking a newer and

higher form. But before proceeding to the highest form of courage, which is the subject of this article, it

is necessary that the lower forms should be first considered.

With the physical form of courage already referred to all are familiar. It is common both to animals and

men. It arises in fearlessness. Its twofold mode of action is attack and defense. It will be seen, however,

that this kind of courage is inevitably associated with suffering, even with destruction and death, as

daily manifested both in the animal and human spheres of life; self-protection being its dominant

motive, whether in attack or defense.

But man is not only and merely an animal, a physical being; he is also a moral and intellectual being;

and along with his moral evolution he began to develop a higher kind of courage-not the highest, or the

New Courage herein referred to; but yet a great advance on the purely animal courage, namely, moral

courage. In physical courage the other person‘s body or property is attacked, while one‘s own body or

property is defended. In moral courage the other person‘s ideas, opinions, or principles are attacked,

one‘s own ideas, opinions, and principles being defended. There is the same fearlessness, the same

attack and defense so far as the spirit of courage is concerned; but as regards its letter, these conditions

have undergone a change; their physical aspect has disappeared, and, having undergone a process of

transmutation, has reappeared in a new form, for moral courage is concerned not with persons as

persons, but with their principles. It is, indeed, purely mental; and while it is still concerned with

destruction and is associated with suffering, the destruction is a bloodless and intellectual one, namely,

the destruction of other men‘s opinions, and its suffering is mental and not physical.

This form of courage is now generally recognized, and is always referred to as moral courage, to

distinguish it from common or physical courage. It is, without doubt, a comparatively recent

development in the evolution of the race, and is entirely absent from animals. A few thousand years ago

it was, in all probability, an exceeding rare and new faculty, and it is still in process of development,

large numbers of the race not yet having evolved it; for while it is probable that at least seventy-five per

cent of the race possess a considerable development of physical courage, it is doubtful whether twenty

per cent possess any marked degree of moral courage; so much so that those in full possession of it are

marked off from their fellows as men of a higher grade of character, and generally- though not

necessarily and always- as leaders of men in their particular sphere of action.

But the New Courage, up to a consideration of which the preceding remarks have been leading, is a still

higher form of courage- is, indeed, as much above and beyond moral courage as moral courage is

above and beyond physical courage; and is as separate and distinct from it as that is from its precedent

form. I have called it the New Courage because it is now new in the race, its manifestation being at

present very rare, and, therefore, little understood. Though very different from moral courage, it results

from it, just as moral courage, though very different from physical courage, though very different from

physical courage results from it. Physical courage is of the animal; moral courage is of the human; the

New Courage is of the Divine. The new Courage is, therefore, Divine fearlessness as distinguished

from animal or human fearlessness.

This Divine fearlessness has a twofold aspect. It at first consists in fearlessly attacking and overcoming

the enemies within one‘s own mind-instead of the enemies without, as in the other two forms of

courage- and is afterwards characterized by an entirely new method of conduct towards others,

especially where external enmity and opposition have to be met. It is its latter and perfected stage with

which we are here concerned - that is, with its outward manifestation.

We have seen how a man having physical courage acts in defense of his life and property; also how a

man having moral courage acts in defense of his opinions; and now, how does one act who has Divine

courage?

He who has the New Courage does not attack other men or defend himself; does not attack their

opinions or defend his own; he is the defender of all men, and that from which he defends them is their

own folly, their own ungoverned passions. While never seeking to protect himself, he so acts as to

shield others from their deadliest enemy, namely, the evil within themselves.

Both physical and moral courage make much noise. In the one there is the clash of arms and the roar of

artillery, along with the shouts of the victories and the groans of the dying; in the other there is the

fierce war of opinions and the clamor of conflicting tongues. But in the New Courage there is a

profound silence; yet this silence has more influence and enduring power in one man than that noise

has in entire humanity. The New Courage may, indeed be described as the courage to be silent. Thus,

when the man of Divine courage is attacked, abused, or slandered, he remains serenely silent. Yet this is

not a proud and selfish silence. It is a silence based upon a right knowledge of life and having a

profound and beneficent purpose; that purpose being the good of the attacking person (and, through

him, of all mankind) by protecting him from the evil passion by which he is so injuriously influenced.

To remain silent, calm, and compassionate in the midst of a seething sea of human passions externally

pressing upon one-to achieve this requires a lofty courage such as is yet almost unknown to men; so

much so that the few men who have it, although misunderstood and persecuted through life, are

afterwards worshiped by mankind as Divine and miraculous beings. And here we see how this courage

continues to operate even after its possessor is gone from mortal vision. The physically courageous

man conquers another in fight; the morally courageous man conquers the opinions of many men, and

wins thousands to his cause; but the divinely courageous man conquers the world, and his conquest is

one of blessedness and peace, and not of bloodshed or party strife.

In the New Courage, attack and defense, and they obtain in the two lower kinds of courage, have

entirely disappeared. Nevertheless, they have not been destroyed; they still exist in the sporty, but have

become blended into one, have been transmuted into a sublime and universal kindness; for when the

Divine man refrains from engaging in combat with his adversary, and lets him go feeling that he has all

the victory, it is because his thought is all for his mistaken enemy, and not for his own defense. He is

prompted by a profound compassion for his enemy, a compassion based on Divine and perfect

knowledge; and if his silent act does not always subdue the passions of his adversary at the time being,

it subdues the passions of thousands of men through hundreds of future generations merely by its

recital, so great and far-reaching is the power of one deed of truth.

In the New Courage, then, silent kindness (and by this meant something vastly different from that

human impulse commonly called kindness) is both attack and defense. Instead of attempting to conquer

passion by fiercer passion - which is the human way- it conquers it, and far more successfully, by it‘s

opposite, namely, gentleness, which is the Divine way. In the human sense, passion is not opposed at

all, but is left alone; yet, in reality, it is opposed by something far more powerful than passion, for in all

combats between Divine gentleness and human passion gentleness is the supreme victor. Thus, the man

of Divine courage, while, viewed from the lower standards of bravery, is not protecting or defending

himself, and may for the time being be regarded as a coward, is, in reality, defending himself far more

perfectly and successfully than the passionate fighters and partisans; for he who protects his enemy

with love, and shields all men with the acts of Divine gentleness, is throwing around himself an eternal

shield and protection.

For instances of this New Courage one has to go to the Great Spiritual Leaders of the race, so rare is it.

The most striking instance is that of Jesus, who, when mocked, smitten, and crucified, did not retaliate,

or offer the least resistance, or speak a world in self-defense; and the fact that the rabble taunted Him

with the accusation, "He saved others, Himself He cannot save," seems to show that they regarded Him

both as an impostor and a coward. Think of the sublime courage required to pass through such an

ordeal, and you will have some conception as to how far the New Courage transcends the ordinary

human forms of bravery. That transcendent act of courage, too, is to-day universally recognized as

Divine, and it still continues to lift men above their warring, selfish passions.

When the Buddha was abused and falsely accused by His enemies, He always remained silent; and it

not infrequently happened that those who came as accusing enemies went away as worshiping friends

and disciples, so powerful was His silent gentleness.

It will be long, as we count time, before such courage becomes general in the race; but everything is

making towards it. Other men will come who possess it, and then more an more, until at last the race

will stand at this Divine level. Then selfishness and sorrow will be ended, and the painful conflict of

human passions will no more be heard upon earth.

Eight pillars of prosperity. By James Allen.

Contents

1. Preface

2. Eight pillars

3. First pillar – Energy

4. Second pillar – Economy

5. Third pillar – Integrity

6. Fourth pillar – System

7. Fifth pillar – Sympathy

8. Sixth pillar – Sincerity

9. Seventh pillar – Impartiality

10. Eighth pillar – Self-reliance

11. The temple of prosperity

Preface

It is popularly supposed that a greater prosperity for individuals or nations can only come through a

political and social reconstruction. This cannot be true apart from the practice of the moral virtues in

the individuals that comprise a nation. Better laws and social conditions will always follow a higher

realisation of morality among the individuals of a community, but no legal enactment can give

prosperity to, nay it cannot prevent the ruin of, a man or a nation that has become lax and decadent in

the pursuit and practice of virtue.

The moral virtues are the foundation and support of prosperity as they are the soul of greatness. They

endure for ever, and all the works of man which endure are built upon them. Without them there is

neither strength, stability, nor substantial reality, but only ephemeral dreams. To find moral principles is

to have found prosperity, greatness, truth, and is therefore to be strong, valiant, joyful and free.

JAMES ALLEN

―Bryngoleu,‖

Ilfracombe,

England.

1. Eight pillars

Prosperity rests upon a moral foundation. It is popularly supposed to rest upon an immoral foundation -

that is, upon trickery, sharp practice, deception and greed. One commonly hears even an otherwise

intelligent man declare that ―No man can be successful in business unless he is dishonest,‖ thus

regarding business prosperity – a good thing – as the effect of dishonesty – a bad thing. Such a

statement is superficial and thoughtless, and reveals a total lack of knowledge of moral causation, as

well as a very limited grasp of the facts of life. It is as though one should sow henbane and reap

spinach, or erect a brick house on a quagmire - things impossible in the natural order of causation, and

therefore not to be attempted. The spiritual or moral order of causation is not different in principle, but

only in nature. The same law obtains in things unseen – in thoughts and deeds - as in things seen – in

natural phenomena. Man sees the processes in natural objects, and acts in accordance with them, but

not seeing the spiritual processes, he imagines that they do not obtain, and so he does not act in

harmony with them.

Yet these spiritual processes are just as simple and just as sure as the natural processes. They are indeed

the same natural modes manifesting in the world of mind. All the parables and a large number of the

sayings of the Great Teachers are designed to illustrate this fact. The natural world is the mental world

made visible. The seen is the mirror of the unseen. The upper half of a circle is in no way different from

the lower half, but its sphericity is reversed. The material and the mental are not two detached arcs in

the universe, they are the two halves of a complete circle. The natural and the spiritual are not at eternal

enmity, but in the true order of the universe are eternally at one. It is in the unnatural - in the abuse of

function and faculty – where division arises, and where main is wrested back, with repeated sufferings,

from the perfect circle from which he has tried to depart. Every process in matter is also a process in

mind. Every natural law has its spiritual counterpart.

Take any natural object, and you will find its fundamental processes in the mental sphere if you rightly

search. Consider, for instance, the germination of a seed and its growth into a plant with the final

development of a flower, and back to seed again. This also is a mental process. Thoughts are seeds

which, falling in the soil of the mind, germinate and develop until they reach the completed stage,

blossoming into deeds good or bad, brilliant or stupid, according to their nature, and ending as seeds of

thought to be again sown in other minds. A teacher is a sower of seed, a spiritual agriculturist, while he

who teaches himself is the wise farmer of his own mental plot. The growth of a thought is as the

growth of a plant. The seed must be sown seasonably, and time is required for its full development into

the plant of knowledge and the flower of wisdom.

While writing this, I pause, and turn to look through my study window, and there, a hundred yards

away, is a tall tree in the top of which some enterprising rook from a rookery hard by, has, for the first

time, built its nest. A strong, north-east wind is blowing, so that the top of the tree is swayed violently

to and fro by the onset of the blast; yet there is no danger to that frail thing of sticks and hair, and the

mother bird, sitting upon her eggs, has no fear of the storm. Why is this? It is because the bird has

instinctively built her nest in harmony with principles which ensure the maximum strength and

security. First, a fork is chosen as the foundation for the nest, and not a space between two separate

branches, so that, however great may be the swaying of the tree top, the position of the nest is not

altered, nor its structure disturbed; then the nest is built on a circular plan so as to offer the greatest

resistance to any external pressure, as well as to obtain more perfect compactness within, in accordance

with its purpose; and so, however the tempest may rage, the birds rest in comfort and security. This is a

very simple and familiar object, and yet, in the strict obedience of its structure to mathematical law, it

becomes, to the wise, a parable of enlightenment, teaching them that only by ordering one‘s deeds in

accordance with fixed principles is perfect surety, perfect security, and perfect peace obtained amid the

uncertainty of events and the turbulent tempests of life.

A house or a temple built by man is a much more complicated structure than a bird‘s nest, yet it is

erected in accordance with those mathematical principles which are everywhere evidenced in nature.

And here is seen how man, in material things, obeys universal principles. He never attempts to put up a

building in defiance of geometrical proportions, for he knows that such a building would be unsafe, and

that the first storm would, in all probability, level it to the ground, if, indeed, it did not fall about his

ears during the process of erection. Man in his material building scrupulously obeys the fixed principles

of circle, square and angle, and, aided by rule, plumbline, and compasses, he raises a structure which

will resist the fiercest storms, and afford him a secure shelter and safe protection.

All this is very simple, the reader may say. Yes, it is simple because it is true and perfect; so true that it

cannot admit the smallest compromise, and so perfect that no man can improve upon it. Man, through

long experience, has learned these principles of the material world, and sees the wisdom of obeying

them, and I have thus referred to them in order to lead up to a consideration of those fixed principles in

the mental or spiritual world which are just as simple, and just as eternally true and perfect, yet are at

present so little understood by man that he daily violates them, because ignorant of their nature, and

unconscious of the harm he is all the time inflicting upon himself.

In mind as in matter, in thoughts as in things, in deeds as in natural processes, there is a fixed

foundation of law which, if consciously or ignorantly ignored leads to disaster, and defeat. It is, indeed,

the ignorant violation of this law which is the cause of the world‘s pain and sorrow. In matter, this law

is presented as mathematical; in mind, it is perceived as moral. But the mathematical and the moral are

not separate and opposed; they are but two aspects of a united whole. The fixed principles of

mathematics, to which all matter is subject, are the body of which the spirit is ethical; while the eternal

principles of morality are mathematical truisms operating in the universe of mind. It is as impossible to

live successfully apart from moral principles, as to build successfully while ignoring mathematical

principles. Characters, like houses, only stand firmly when built on a foundation of moral law - and

they are built up slowly and laboriously, deed by deed, for in the building of character, the bricks are

deeds. Business and all human enterprises are not exempt from the eternal order, but can only stand

securely by the observance of fixed laws. Prosperity, to be stable and enduring, must rest on a solid

foundation of moral principle, and be supported by the adamantine pillars of sterling character and

moral worth. In the attempt to run a business in defiance of moral principles, disaster, of one kind or

another, is inevitable. The permanently prosperous men in any community are not its tricksters and

deceivers, but its reliable and upright men. The Quakers are acknowledged to be the most upright men

in the British community, and, although their numbers are small, they are the most prosperous. The

Jains in India are similar both in numbers and sterling worth, and they are the most prosperous people

in India.

Men speak of ―building up a business,‖ and, indeed, a business is as much a building as is a brick house

or a stone church, albeit the process of building is a mental one. Prosperity, like a house, is a roof over

a man‘s head, affording him protection and comfort. A roof presupposes a support, and a support

necessitates a foundation. The roof of prosperity, then, is supported by the following eight pillars which

are cemented in a foundation of moral consistency:-

1. Energy

2. Economy

3. Integrity

4. System

5. Sympathy

6. Sincerity

7. Impartiality

8. Self-reliance

A business built up on the faultless practice of all these principles would be so firm and enduring as to

be invincible. Nothing could injure it; nothing could undermine its prosperity, nothing could interrupt

its success, or bring it to the ground; but that success would be assured with incessant increase so long

as the principles were adhered to. On the other hand, where these principles were all absent, there could

be no success of any kind; there could not even be a business at all, for there would be nothing to

produce the adherence of one part with another; but there would be that lack of life, that absence of

fibre and consistency which animates and gives body and form to anything whatsoever. Picture a man

with all these principles absent from his mind, his daily life, and even if your knowledge of these

principles is but slight and imperfect, yet you could not think of such a man as doing any successful

work. You could picture him as leading the confused life of a shiftless tramp but to imagine him at the

head of a business, as the centre of an organisation, or as a responsible and controlling agent in any

department of life – this you could not do, because you realise its impossibility. The fact that no one of

moderate morality and intelligence can think of such a man as commanding any success, should, to all

those who have not yet grasped the import of these principles, and therefore declare that morality is not

a factor, but rather a hindrance, in prosperity, be a sound proof to them that their conclusion is totally

wrong, for if it was right, then the greater the lack of these moral principles, the greater would be the

success.

These eight principles, then, in greater or lesser degree, are the causative factors in all success of

whatsoever kind. Underneath all prosperity they are the strong supports, and, howsoever appearances

may be against such a conclusion, a measure of them informs and sustains every effort which is

crowned with that excellence which men name success.

It is true that comparatively few successful men practice, in their entirety and perfection, all these eight

principles, but there are those who do, and they are the leaders, teachers, and guides of men, the

supports of human society, and the strong pioneers in the van of human evolution.

But while few achieve that moral perfection which ensures the acme of success, all lesser successes

come from the partial observance of these principles which are so powerful in the production of good

results that even perfection in any two or three of them alone is sufficient to ensure an ordinary degree

of prosperity, and maintain a measure of local influence at least for a time, while the same perfection in

two or three with partial excellence in all, or nearly all, the others, will render permanent that limited

success and influence which will, necessarily, grow and extend in exact ratio with a more intimate

knowledge and practice of those principles which, at present, are only partially incorporated in the

character.

The boundary lines of a man‘s morality mark the limits of his success. So true is this that to know a

man‘s moral status would be to know – to mathematically gauge – his ultimate success or failure. The

temple of prosperity only stands in so far as it is supported by its moral pillars; as they are weakened, it

becomes insecure; in so far as they are withdrawn, it crumbles away and totters to ruin.

Ultimate failure and defeat are inevitable where moral principles are ignored or defied – inevitable in

the nature of things as cause and effect. As a stone thrown upward returns to the earth, so every deed,

good or bad, returns upon him that sent it forth. Every unmoral or immoral act frustrates the end at

which it aims, and every such succeeding act puts it further and further away as an achieved realisation.

On the other hand, every moral act is another solid brick in the temple of prosperity, another round of

strength and sculptured beauty in the pillars which support it.

Individuals, families, nations grow and prosper in harmony with their growth in moral strength and

knowledge; they fall and fail in accordance with their moral decadence.

Mentally, as physically, only that which has form and solidity can stand and endure. The unmoral is

nothingness, and from it nothing can be formed. It is the negation of substance. The immoral is

destruction. It is the negation of form. It is a process of spiritual denudation. While it undermines and

disintegrates, it leaves the scattered material ready for the wise builder to put it into form again; and the

wise builder is Morality. The moral is substance, form, and building power in one. Morality always

builds up and preserves, for that is its nature, being the opposite of immorality, which always breaks

down and destroys. Morality is the master–builder everywhere, whether in individuals or nations.

Morality is invincible, and he who stands upon it to the end, stands upon an impregnable rock, so that

his defeat is impossible, his triumph certain. He will be tried, and that to the uttermost, for without

fighting there can be no victory, and so only can his moral powers be perfected, and it is in the nature

of fixed principles, as of everything finely and perfectly wrought, to have their strength tested and

proved. The steel bars which are to perform the strongest and best uses in the world must be subjected

to a severe strain by the ironmaster, as a test of their texture and efficiency, before they are sent from

his foundry. The brickmaker throws aside the bricks which have given way under the severe heat. So he

who is to be greatly and permanently successful will pass through the strain of adverse circumstances

and the fire of temptation with his moral nature not merely not undermined, but strengthened and

beautified. He will be like a bar of well-wrought steel, fit for the highest use, and the universe will see,

as the ironmaster his finely-wrought steel, that the use does not escape him.

Immorality is assailable at every point, and he who tries to stand upon it, sinks into the morass of

desolation. Even while his efforts seem to stand, they are crumbling away. The climax of failure is

inevitable. While the immoral man is chuckling over his ill-gotten gains, there is already a hole in his

pocket through which his gold is falling. While he who begins with morality, yet deserts it for gain in

the hour of trial, is like the brick which breaks on the first application of heat; he is not fit for use, and

the universe casts him aside, yet not finally, for he is a being, and not a brick; and he can live and learn,

can repent and be restored.

Moral force is the life of all success, and the sustaining element in all prosperity; but there are various

kinds of success, and it is frequently necessary that a man should fail in one direction that he may reach

up to a greater and more far-reaching success. If, for instance, a literary, artistic, or spiritual genius

should begin by trying to make money, it may be, and often is, to his advantage and the betterment of

his genius that he should fail therein, so that he may achieve that more sublime success wherein lies his

real power. Many a millionaire would doubtless be willing to barter his millions for the literary success

of a Shakespeare or the spiritual success of a Buddha, and would thereby consider that he had made a

good bargain. Exceptional spiritual success is rarely accompanied with riches, yet financial success

cannot in any way compare with it in greatness and grandeur. But I am not, in this book, dealing with

the success of the saint or spiritual genius but with that success which concerns the welfare, well-being,

and happiness of the broadly average man and woman, in a word, with the prosperity which, while

being more or less connected with money – being present and temporal – yet is not confined thereto,

but extends to and embraces all human activities, and which particularly relates to that harmony of the

individual with his circumstances which produces that satisfaction called happiness and that comfort

known as prosperity. To the achievement of this end, so desirable to the mass of mankind, let us now

see how the eight principles operate, how the roof of prosperity is raised and made secure upon the

pillars by which it is supported.

2. First pillar – Energy

Energy is the working power in all achievement. Inert coal it converts into fire, and water it transmutes

into steam; it vivifies and intensifies the commonest talent until it approaches to genius, and when it

touches the mind of the dullard, it turns into a living fire that which before was sleeping in inertia.

Energy is a moral virtue, its opposing vice being laziness. As a virtue, it can be cultivated, and the lazy

man can become energetic by forcibly arousing himself to exertion. Compared with the energetic man,

the lazy man is not half alive. Even while the latter is talking about the difficult of doing a thing, the

former is doing it. the active man has done a considerable amount of work before the lazy man has

roused himself from sleep. While the lazy man is waiting for an opportunity, the active man has gone

out, and met and utilized half a dozen opportunities. He does things while the other is rubbing his eyes.

Energy is one of the primary forces: without it nothing can be accomplished. It is the basic element in

all forms of action. The entire universe is a manifestation of tireless, though inscrutable energy. Energy

is, indeed, life, and without it there would be no universe, no life. When a man has ceased to act, when

the body lies inert, and all the functions have ceased to act, then we say he is dead; and in so far as a

man fails to act, he is so far dead. Man, mentally and physically, is framed for action, and not for

swinish ease. Every muscle of the body (being a lever for exertion) is a rebuke to the lazy man. Every

bone and nerve is fashioned for resistance; every function and faculty is there for a legitimate use. All

things have their end in action; al things are perfected in use.

This being so, there is no prosperity for the lazy man, no happiness, no refuge and no rest; for him,

there is not even the ease which he covets, for he at last becomes a homeless outcast, a troubled,

harried, despised man, so that the proverb wisely puts it that ―The lazy man does the hardest work‖, in

that, avoiding the systematic labour of skill, he brings upon himself the hardest lot.

Yet energy misapplied is better than no energy at all. This is powerfully put by St. John in the words: ―I

would have you either hot or cold; if you are lukewarm I will spew you out of my mouth‖. The

extremes of heat and cold here symbolize the transforming agency of energy, in its good and bad

aspects.

The lukewarm stage is colourless, lifeless, useless; it can scarcely be said to have either virtue or vice,

and is merely barren empty, fruitless. The man who applies his abounding energy to bad ends, has, at

the very power with which the strives to acquire his selfish ends, will bring upon him such difficulties,

pains, and sorrows, that will compel him to learn by experience, and so at last to re-fashion his base of

action. At the right moment, when his mental eyes open to better purposes, he will turn round and cut

new and proper channels for the outflow of his power, and will then be just as strong in good as he

formerly was in evil. This truth is beautifully crystallized in the old proverb, ―The greater the sinner,

the great the saint‖.

Energy is power, and without it there will be no accomplishment; there will not even be virtue, for

virtue does not only consist of not doing evil, but also, primarily, of doing good. There are those who

try, yet fail through insufficient energy. Their efforts are too feeble to produce positive results. Such are

not vicious, and because they never do any deliberate harm, are usually spoken of as good men that

fail. But to lack the initiative to do harm is not to be good; it is only to be weak and powerless. He is

the truly good man who, having the power to do evil, yet chooses to direct his energies in ways that are

good. Without a considerable degree of energy, therefore, there will be no moral power. What good

there is, will be latent and sleeping; there will be no going forth of good, just as there can be no

mechanical motion without the motive power.

Energy is the informing power in all doing in every department of life, and whether it be along material

or spiritual lines. The call to action, which comes not only from the soldier but from the lips or pen of

every teacher in every grade of thought, is a call to men to rouse their sleeping energy, and to do

vigorously the task in hand. Even the men of contemplation and mediation never cease to rouse their

disciples to exertion in meditative thought, is a call to men to rouse their sleeping energy, and to do

vigorously the task in hand. Even the men of contemplation and meditation never cease to rouse their

disciples to exertion in meditative thought. Energy is alike needed in all spheres of life, and not only

are the rules of the soldier, the engineer and the merchant rules of action, but nearly all the percepts of

the saviors, sages, and saints are precepts of doing.

The advice of one of the Great Teachers to his disciples – ―Keep wide awake‖, tersely expresses the

necessity for tireless energy if one‘s purpose is to be accomplished, and is equally good advice to the

salesman as to the saint. ―Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty‖, and liberty is the reaching of one‘s

fixed end. It was the same Teacher that said: ―If anything is to be done, let a man do it at once; let him

attack it vigorously!‖ The wisdom of this advice is seen when it is remembered that action is creative,

that increase and development follow upon legitimate use. To get more energy we must use to the full

that which we already possess. Only to him that that is given. Only to him that puts his hand vigorously

to some task does power and freedom come.

But energy, to be productive, must not only be directed towards good ends, it must be carefully

controlled and conserved. ―The conservation of energy‖ is a modern term expressive of that principle in

nature by which no energy is wasted or lost, and the man whose energies are to be fruitful in results

must work intelligently upon this principle. Noise and hurry are so much energy running to waste.

―More haste, less speed‖. The maximum of noise usually accompanies the minimum of

accomplishment. With much talk there is little doing. Working steam is not heard. It is the escaping

steam which makes a great noise. It is the concentrated powder which drives the bullet to its mark.

In so far as a man intensifies his energies by conserving them, and concentrating them upon the

accomplishment of his purpose, just so far does he gain quietness and silence, in response and

calmness. It is great delusion that noise means power. There is no great baby than the blustering

boaster. Physically a man, he is but an infant mentally, and having no strength to anything, and no work

to show, he tries to make up for it by loudly proclaiming what he has done, or could do.

―Still waters run deep,‖ and the great universal forces are inaudible. Where calmness is, there is the

greatest power. Calmness is the sure indication of a strong, welltrained, patiently disciplined mind. The

calm man knows his business, be sure of it. His words are few, but they tell. His schemes are well

planned, and they work true, like a well balanced machine. He sees a long way ahead, and makes

straight for his object. The enemy, Difficulty, he converts into a friend, and makes profitable use of

him, for he has studied well how to ―agree with his adversary while he is in the way with him‖, Like a

wise general, he has anticipated all emergencies. Indeed, he is the man who is prepared beforehand. In

his meditations, in the counsels of his judgement, he has conferred with causes, and has caught the bent

of all contingencies. He is never taken by surprise; is never in a hurry, is safe in the keeping of his own

steadfastness, and is sure of his ground. You may think you have got him, only to find, the next

moment, that you have tripped in your haste, and that he has got you, or rather that you, wanting

calmness, have hurried yourself into the dilemma which you had prepared for him. Your impulse

cannot do battle with his deliberation, but is foiled at the first attack; your uncurbed energy cannot turn

aside the wisely directed steam of his concentrated power. He is ―armed at all points‖. By a mental Ju-

Jitsu acquired through self discipline, he meets opposition in such a way that it destroys itself. Upbraid

him with angry words, and the reproof hidden in his gentle reply searches to the very heart of your

folly, and the fire of your anger sinks into the ashes of remorse. Approach him with a vulgar familiarity,

and his look at once fill you with shame, and brings you back to your senses. As he is prepared for all

events, so he is ready for all men; though no men are ready for him. All weaknesses are betrayed in his

presence, and he commands by an inherent force which calmness has rendered habitual and

unconscious.

Calmness, as distinguished from the dead placidity of languor, is the acme of concentrated energy.

There is a focused mentality behind it. in agitation and excitement the mentality is dispersed. It is

irresponsible, and is without force or weight. The fussy, peevish, irritable man has no influence. He

repels, and not attracts. He wonders why his ―easy going‖ neighbour succeeds, and is sought after,

while he, who is always hurrying, worrying and troubling the miscalls it striving, falls and is avoided.

His neighbour, being a calmer man, not more easy going but more deliberate, gets through more work,

does it more skillfully, and is more self possessed and manly. This is the reason of his success and

influence. His energy is controlled and used, while the other man‘s energy is dispersed and abused.

Energy, then, is the first pillar in the temple of prosperity, and without it, as the first and most essential

equipment, there can be no prosperity. No energy means no capacity; there is no manly self respect and

independence. Amongst the unemployed will be found many who are unemployable through sheer lack

of this first essential of work energy. The man that stands many hours a day at a street corner with his

hands in his pockets and a pipe in his mouth, waiting for some one to treat him to a glass of beer, is

little likely to find employment, or to accept it should it come to him. Physically flabby and mentally

inert, he is every day becoming more some, is making himself more unfit to work, and therefore unfit

to live. The energetic man may pass through temporary periods of unemployment and suffering, but it

is impossible for him to become one of the permanently unemployed. He will either find work or make

it, for inertia is painful to him, and work is a delight; and he who delights in work will not long remain

unemployed.

The lazy man does not wish to be employed. He is in his element when doing nothing. His chief study

is how to avoid exertion. To vegetate in semi torpor is his idea of happiness. He is unfit and

unemployable. Even the extreme Socialist, who places all unemployment, at the door of the rich, would

discharge a lazy, neglectful and unprofitable servant, and so add one more to the arm of the

unemployed; for laziness is one of the lowest vices repulsive to all active, right minded men.

But energy is a composite power. It does not stand alone. Involved in it are qualities which go to the

making of vigorous character and the production of prosperity. Mainly, these qualities are contained in

the four following characteristics:-

1. Promptitude

2. Vigilance

3. Industry

4. Earnestness

The pillar of energy is therefore a concrete mass composed of these four tenacious elements. They are

through, enduring, and are calculated to withstanding the wildest weather of adversity. They all make

for life, power, capacity, and progress.

Promptitude is valuable possession. It begets reliability. People who are alert, prompt, and punctual are

relied upon. They can be trusted to do their duty, and to do it vigorously and well. Masters who are

prompt are a tonic to their employees, and a whip to those who are inclined to shirk. They are a means

of wholesome discipline to those who would not otherwise discipline themselves. Thus while aiding

their own usefulness and success, they contribute to the usefulness and success of others. The

perfunctory worker, who is ever procrastinating, and is always behind time, becomes a nuisance, if not

go himself, to others, and his services come to be regarded as of little economic value. Deliberation and

dispatch, handmaids of promptitude, are valuable aids in the achievement of prosperity. In ordinary

business channels, alacrity is a saving power, and promptness spells profit. It is doubtful whether a

confirmed procrastinator ever succeeded in business. I have not yet met one such, though I have known

many who have failed.

Vigilance is the guard of all the faculties and powers of the mind. It is the detective that prevents the

entrance of any violent and destructive element. It is the close companion and protector of all success,

liberty, and wisdom. Without this watchful attitude of mind, a man is a fool, and there is no prosperity

for a fool. The fool allows his mind to be ransacked and robbed of its gravity, serenity, and judgement

by mean thoughts and violent passions as they come along to molest him. He is never on his guard, but

leaves open the doors of his mind to every nefarious intruder. He is so weak and unsteady as to be

swept off his balance by every gust of impulse that overtakes him. He is an example to others of what

they should not be. He is always a failure, for the fool is an offence to all men, and there is no society

that can receive him with respect. As wisdom is the acme of strength, so folly is the other extreme of

weakness.

The lack of vigilance is shown in thoughtlessness and in a general looseness in the common details of

life. Thoughtlessness is built another name for folly. It lies at the root of a great deal of failure and

misery. No one who aims at any kind of usefulness and prosperity (for usefulness in the body politic

and prosperity to one‘s self cannot be served)‘ can afford to be asleep with regard to his actions and the

effect of those actions on other and reactively on himself. He must, at the outset of his career, wake up

to a sense of his personnel responsibility. He must know that wherever he is – in the home, the

counting- house, the pulpit, the store, in the schoolroom or behind the counter, in company or alone, at

work or at play- his conduct will materially affect his career for good or bad; for there is a subtle

influence in behavior which leaves its impression every man, woman, and child that it touches, and that

impress is the determining factor in the attitude of persons towards one another. It is for the reason that

the cultivation of good manners plays such an important part in all coherent society. If you carry about

with you a disturbing or disagreeable mental defect, it needs not to be named and known to work its

poison upon your affairs. Its corrosive influence will eat into all your efforts, and disfigure your

happiness and prosperity, as powerful acid eats into and disfigures the finest steel. On the other hand, if

you carry about an assuring and harmonious mental excellence, it needs no that those about you

understand it to be influenced by it. They will be drawn towards you in good –will, often without

knowing why, and that good quality will be the most powerful sport in all your affairs, bringing you

friends and opportunities, and greatly aiding in the success of all your enterprises. It will even right

your minor incapacitaties; covering a multitude of faults.

Thus we receive at the hands of the world according to the measure of our giving. For bad, bad; for

good, good. For defective conduct, indifferent influence and imperfect success; for superior conduct

lasting power and consummate achievement. We act, and the world responds. When the foolish man

fails, he blames other, and sees no error in himself; but the wise man watches and corrects himself, and

so is assured of success.

The man whose mind is vigilant and alert, has thereby a valuable equipment in the achievement of his

aims; and if he be fully alive and wide- awake on all occasions, to all opportunities, and against all

marring defects of character, what event, what circumstance, what enemy shall overtake him and find

him unprepared? What shall prevent him from achieving the legitimate and at which he aims?

Industry brings cheerfulness and plenty. Vigorously industrious people are the happiest members of the

community. They are not always the richest, if by riches is meant a superfluity of money; but they are

always the most lighthearted and joyful, and the most satisfied with what they do and have, and are

therefore the richer, if by richer we mean more abundantly blessed. Active people have no time for

moping and brooding, or for dwelling selfishly upon their ailments and troubles. Things most used are

kept the brightest, and people most employed best retain their brightness and buoyancy of spirit. Things

unused tarnish quickest; and the time killer is attacked with ennui and morbid fancies. To talk of having

to ―kill time‖ is almost like a confession of imbecility; for who, in the short life at his disposal, and in a

world so flooded with resources of knowledge with sound heads and good hearts can fill up every

moment of every day usefully and happily, and if they refer to time at all, it is to the effect that it is all

too short to enable them to do all that they would like to do.

Industry, too, promoted health and well being. The active man goes to bed tired every night; his rest is

sound and sweet, and he wakes up early in the morning, fresh and strong for another day‘s delightful

toil. His appetite and digestion are good. He has an excellent sauce in recreation, and a good tonic in

toil. What companionship can such a man have with moping and melancholy? Such morbid spirits hang

around those who do little and dine excessively. People who make themselves useful to the community,

receive back from the community their full share of health, happiness, and prosperity. They brighten

the daily task, and keep the world moving. They are the gold of the nation and the salt of the earth.

―Earnestness”, said a Great Teacher, ―is the path of immortality. They who are in earnest do not die;

they who are not in earnest are as if dead already‖. Earnestness is the dedication of the entire mind to

its task. We live only in what we do. Earnest people are dissatisfied with anything short of the highest

excellence in whatever they do, and they always reach that excellence. They are so many that are

careless and half hearted, so satisfied with a poor performance, that the earnest ones shine apart as it

were, in their excellence. They are always plenty of ―vacancies‖ in the ranks of usefulness and service

for earnest people. There never was, and never will be, a deeply earnest man or woman who did not fill

successfully some suitable sphere. Such people are scrupulous, conscientious, and painstaking, and

cannot rest in ease until the very best is done, and the whole world is always on the lookout to reward

the best. It always stands ready to pay the full price, whether in money, fame, friends, influence,

happiness, scope or life, for that which is of surpassing excellence, whether it be in things material,

intellectual, or spiritual. What ever you are – whether shopkeeper or saintly teacher you can safely give

the very best to the world without any doubt or misgiving. If the indelible impress of your earnestness

be on your goods in the one case, or on your words in the other, your business will flourish, or your

precepts will live.

Earnest people make rapid progress both in their work and their character. It is thus that they live, and

―do not die‖, for stagnation only is death, and where there is incessant progress and ever ascending

excellence, stagnation and health are swallowed up in activity and life.

Thus is the making and masonry of the First pillar explained. He who builds it well, and sets it firm and

straight, will have a powerful and enduring support in the business of his life.

3. Second pillar – Economy

It is said of Nature that she knows on vacuum. She also knows no waste. In the divine economy my

Nature everything is conserved and turned to good account. Even excreta are chemically transmitted,

and utilized in the building up of new forms. Nature destroys every foulness, not by annihilation, but by

transmutation, by sweetening and purifying it, and making it serve the ends of things beautiful, useful

and good.

That economy which, in nature is a universal principle, is in man a moral quality and it is that quality

by which he preserves his energies, and sustains his place as a working unit in the scheme of things.

Financial economy is merely a fragment of this principle, or rather it is a material symbol of that

economy which is purely mental, and its transmutations spiritual. The financial economist exchanges

coppers for silver, silver for gold, gold for notes, and the notes he converts into the figures of a bank

account. By these conversions of money into more readily transmissible forms he is the gainer in the

financial management of his affairs. The spiritual economist transmutes passions into intelligence,

intelligence into principles, principles into wisdom, and wisdom is manifested in actions which are few

but of powerful effect. By all these transmutations he is the gainer in character and in the management

of his life.

True economy is the middle way in all things, whether material or mental, between waste and undue

retention. That which is wasted, whether money or mental energy, is rendered powerless; that which is

selfishly retained and hoarded up, is equally powerless. To secure power, whether of capital or

mentality, there must be concentration, but concentration must be followed by legitimate use. The

gathering up of money or energy is only a means; the end is use; and it is use only that produces power.

An all round economy consists in finding the middle way in the following seven things:- Money, Food,

Clothing, Recreation, Rest, Time and Energy.

Money is the symbol of exchange, and represents purchasing power. He who is anxious to acquire

financial wealth as well as he who wishes to avoid debt – must study how to apportion, his expenditure

in accordance with his income, so as to leave a margin of ever increasing working capital, or to have a

little store ready in hand for any emergency. Money spent in thoughtless expenditure – in worthless

pleasures or harmful luxuries – is money wasted and power destroyed; for, although a limited and

subordinate power, the means and capacity for legitimate and virtuous purchase is, nevertheless, a

power, and one that enters largely into the details of our everyday life. The spendthrift can never

become rich, but if he begin with riches, must soon become poor. The miser, with all his stored-away

gold, cannot be said to be rich, for he is in want, and his gold, lying idle, is deprived of its power of

purchase. The thrifty and prudent are on the way to riches, for while they spend wisely they save

carefully, and gradually enlarge their spheres as their growing means allow.

The poor man who is to become rich must begin at the bottom, and must not wish, nor try to appear

affluent by attempting something far beyond his means. There is always plenty of room and scope at

the bottom, and it is a safe place from which to begin, as there is nothing below, and everything above.

Many a young business man comes at once to grief by swagger and display which he foolishly

imagines are necessary to success, but which, deceiving no one but himself, lead quickly to ruin. A

modest and true beginning, in any sphere, will better ensure success than an exaggerated advertisement

of one‘s standing and importance. The smaller the capital, the smaller should be the sphere of

operations. Capital and scope are hand and glove, and they should fit. Concentrate your capital within

the circle of its working power, and however circumscribed that circle may be it will continue to widen

and extend as the gathering momentum of power presses for expression.

Above all take care always to avoid the two extremes of parsimony and prodigality.

Food represents life, vitality, and both physical and mental strength. There is a middle way in eating

and drinking, as in all else. The man who is to achieve prosperity must be well nourished, but not

overfed. The man that starves his body, whether through miserliness or asceticism (both forms of false

economy), diminishes his mental energy, and renders his body too enfeebled to be the instrument for

any strong achievement. Such a man courts sickly mindedness, a condition conducive only to failure.

The glutton, however, destroys himself by excess. His bestialized body becomes a stored up reservoir

of poisons, which attract disease and corruption, while his mind becomes more and more brutalized and

confused, and therefore more incapable. Gluttony is one of the lowest and most animal vices, and is

obnoxious to all who pursue a moderate course.

The best workers and most successful men are they who are most moderate in eating and drinking. By

taking enough nourishment, but not too much, they attain the maximum physical and mental fitness.

Beings thus well equipped by moderation, they are enabled to vigorously and joyfully fight the battle of

life.

Clothing is covering and protection for the body, though it is frequently wrested from this economic

purpose, and made a means of vain display. The two extremes to be avoided here are negligence and

vanity. Custom cannot, and need not, be ignored; and cleanliness is all important. The ill-dressed,

unkempt man or woman invites failure and loneliness. A man‘s dress should harmonize with his station

in life, and it should be of good quality, and be well made and appropriate. Clothing should not be cast

aside while comparatively new, but should be well worn. If a man be poor, he will not lose in either self

respect or the respect of others by wearing threadbare clothing if it be clean and his whole body be

clean and neat. But vanity, leading to excessive luxury in clothing, is a vice which should be studiously

avoided by virtuous people. I know a lady who had forty dresses in her wardrobe; also a man who had

twenty walking-sticks, about the same number of hats, and some dozen mackintoshes; while another

had some twenty or thirty pairs of boots. Rich people who thus squander money on piles of superfluous

clothing, are courting poverty, for it is waste, and waste leads to want. The money so heedlessly spent

could be better used, for suffering abounds and charity is noble.

An obtrusive display in clothing and jewellery bespeaks a vulgar and empty mind. Modest and cultured

people are modest and becoming in their dress, and their spare money is wisely used in further

enhancing their culture and virtue. Education and progress are of more importance to them than vain

and needless apparel; and literature, art, and science are encouraged thereby. A true refinement is in the

mind and behaviour, and a mind adorend with virtue and intelligence cannot add to its attractiveness

though it may detract from it) by an ostentatious display of the body. Time spent in uselessly adorning

the body could be more fruitfully employed. Simplicity in dress, as in other things, is the best. It

touches the point of excellence in usefulness, comfort, and bodily grace, and bespeaks true taste and

cultivated refinement.

Recreation is one of the necessities of life. Every man and women should have some definitive work as

the main object of life, and to which a considerable amount of time should be devoted, and he should

only turn from it at given and limited periods for recreation and rest. The object of recreation is greater

buoyancy of both body and mind, with an increase of power in one‘s serious work. It is, therefore, a

means, not an end; and this should ever be born in mind, for, to many, some forms of recreation

innocent and good in themselves – become so fascinating that they are in danger of making them the

end of life, and of thus abandoning duty for pleasure. To make of life a ceaseless round of games and

pleasures, with no other object in life, is to turn living upside down, as it were, and it produces

monotony and enervation. People who do it are the most unhappy of mortals, and suffer from languor,

ennui, and peevishness. As sauce is an aid to digestion, and can only lead to misery when made the

work of life. When a man has done his day‘s duty he can turn to his recreation with a free mind and a

light heart, and both his work and his pleasure will be to him a source of happiness.

It is a true economy in this particular neither to devote the whole of one‘s time to work nor to

recreation, but to apportion to each its time and place; and so fill out life with those changes which are

necessary to a long life and a fruitful existence.

All agreeable changes is recreation and the mental worker will gain both in the quality and, quantity of

his work by laying it down at the time appointed for restful and refreshing recreation; while the

physical worker will improve in every way by turning to some form of study as a hobby or means of

education.

As we do not spend all our time in eating or sleeping or resting, neither should we spend it in exercise

or pleasure, but should give recreation its proper place as a natural tonic in the economic scheme of our

life.

Rest is for recuperation after toil. Every self respecting human being should do sufficient work every

day to make his sleep restful and sweet, and his rising up fresh and bright.

Enough sleep should be taken, but not too much, over indulgence on the one hand, or deprivation on

the other, are both harmful. It is an easy matter to find out how much sleep one requires. By going to

bed early, and getting up early (rising a little earlier every morning if one has been in the habit of

spending long hours in bed), one can very soon accurately gauge and adjust the number of hours he or

she requires for complete recuperation. It will be found as the sleeping hours are shortened that the

sleep becomes more and more sound and sweet, and the waking up more and more alert and bright.

People who are to prosper in their work must not give way to ignoble ease and over indulgence in

sleep. Fruitful labour, and not ease, is the true end of life, and ease is only good in so far as it sub-

serves the ends of work. Sloth and prosperity can never be companions can never even approach each

other. The sluggard will never overtake success, but failure will speedily catch up with him, and leave

him defeated. Rest is to fit us for greater labour, and not to pamper us in indolence. When the bodily

vigour is restored, the end of rest is accomplished. A perfect balance between labour and rest

contributes considerably to health, happiness, and prosperity.

Time is that which we all possess in equal measure. The day is not lengthened for any man. We should

therefore see to it that we do not squander its precious minutes in unprofitable waste. He who spends

his time in self indulgence and the pursuit of pleasure, presently finds himself old, and nothing has

been accomplished. He who fills full with useful pursuits the minutes as they come and go, grows old

in honour and wisdom, and prosperity abides with him. Money wasted can be restored; health wasted

can be restored; but time wasted can never be restored.

It is an old saying that ―time is money‖. It is, in the same way, health, and strength, and talent, and

genius, and wisdom, in accordance with the manner in which it is used; and to properly use it, the

minutes must be seized upon as they come, for once they are past they can never be recalled. The day

should be divided into portions, and everything – work, leisure, meals, recreation – should be attend to

in its proper time; and the time of preparation should not be overlooked or ignored. Whatever a man

does, he will do it better and more successfully by utilizing some small portion of the day in preparing

his mind for his work. The man who gets up early in order to think and plan, that he may weigh and

consider and forecast, will always manifest greater skill and success in his particular pursuit, than the

man who lives in bed till the last moment, and only gets up just in time to begin breakfast. An hour

spend in this way before breakfast will prove of the greatest value in making one‘s efforts fruitful. It is

a means of calming and clarifying the mind, and of focussing one‘s energies so as to render them more

powerful and effective. The best and most abiding success is that which is made before eight o‘clock in

the morning. He who is at his business at six o‘clock, will always other conditions being equal be a

long way ahead of the man who is in bed at eight. The lie a bed heavily handicaps himself in the race of

life. He gives his early-rising competitor two or three hours start every day. How can he ever hope to

win with such a self imposed tax upon his time? At the end of a year that two or three hours start every

day is shown in a success which is the synthesis of accumulated results. What, then, must be the

difference between the efforts of these two men at the end, say, of twenty years! The lie-a-bed, too,

after he gets up is always in a hurry trying to regain lost time, which results in more loss of time, for

hurry always defeats its own end. The early rise, who thus economies his time, has no need to hurry, for

he is always ahead of the hour, is always well up with his work; he can well afford to be calm and

deliberate, and to do carefully and well whatever is in hand, for his good habit shows itself at the end of

the day in the form of a happy frame of mind, and in bigger results in the shape of work skillfully and

successfully done.

In the economizing of time, too, there will be many things which a man will have to eliminate from his

life; some of things and pursuits which he loves, and desires to retain, will have to be sacrifice to the

main purpose of his life. The studied elimination of non-essentials from one‘s daily life is a vital factor

in all great achievement. All great men are adepts in this branch of economy, and it plays an important

part in the making of their greatness. It is a form of economy which also enters into the mind, the

actions, and the speech, eliminating from them all that is superfluous, and that impedes, and does not

sub-serve, the end aimed at. Foolish and unsuccessful people talk carelessly and aimlessly, act

carelessly and aimlessly, and allow everything that comes along good, bad, and different to lodge in

their mind.

The mind of the true economist is a sieve which lets everything fall through except that which is of use

to him in the business of his life. He also employs only necessary words, and does only necessary

actions, thus vastly minimizing friction and waste of power.

To go to bed betime and to get up betime, to fill in every working minute with purposeful thought and

effective action, this is the true economy of time.

Energy is economized by the formation of good habits. All vices are a reckless expenditure of energy.

Sufficient energy is thoughtlessly wasted in bad habits to enable men to accomplish the greatest

success, if conserved and used in right directions. If economy be practiced in the six points already

considered, much will be done in the conservation of one‘s energies, but a man must go still further,

and carefully husband his vitality by the avoidance of all forms of physical self indulgences and

impurities, but also all those mental vices such as hurry, worry, excitement, despondency, anger,

complaining and envy – which deplete the mind and render it unfit for any important work or

admirable achievement. They are common forms of mental dissipation which a man of character

should study how to avoid and overcome. The energy wasted in frequent fits of bad temper would, if

controlled and properly directed, give a man strength of mind, force of character, and much power to

achieve. The angry man is a strong man made weak by the dissipation of his mental energy. He needs

self control to manifest his strength. The calm man is always his superior in any department of life, and

will always take precedence of him, both in his success, and in the estimation of others. No man can

afford to disperse his energies in fostering bad habits and bad tendencies of mind. Every vice, however,

apparently small will tell against him in the battle of life. Every harmful self indulgence will come back

to him in the form of some trouble or weakness. Every moment of riot or of pandering to his lower

inclinations will make his progress more laborious, and will hold him back from scaling the high

heaven of his wishes for achievement. On the other hand, he who economizes his energies, and bends

them towards the main task of his life, will make rapid progress, and nothing will prevent him from

reaching the golden city of success.

It will be seen that economy is something far more profound and far reaching than the mere saving of

money. It touches every part of our nature and every phase of our life. The old saying, ―Take care of the

pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves‖, may be regarded as a parable, for the lower

passions as native energy; it is the abuse of that energy that is bad, and if this personal energy be taken

care of and stored up and transmuted, it reappears as force of character. To waste this valuable energy

in the pursuit of vice is like wasting the pence, and so losing the pounds, but to take care of it for good

uses is to store up the pence of passions, and so gain the golden pounds of good. Take care, therefore,

of the lower energies, and the higher achievements will take care of themselves.

The Pillar of Economy, when soundly built, will be found to be composed largely of these four

qualities:-

1. Moderation

2. Efficiency

3. Resourcefulness

4. Originality

Moderation is the strong core of economy. It avoids extremes, finding the middle way in all things. It

also consists in abstaining from the unnecessary and the harmful. There can be no such things as

moderation in that which is evil, for that would be excess. A true moderation abstains from evil. It is

not a moderate use of fire to put our hands into it, but to warm them by it at a safe distance. Evil is a

fire that will burn a man though he but touch it. a harmful luxury is best left severely alone. Smoking,

snuff taking, alcoholic drinking, gambling, and other such common vices, although they have dragged

thousands down to ill health, misery, and failure, have never helped one towards health, happiness and

success. The man who eschews them will always be head of the man that pursues them, their talents

and opportunities being equal. Healthy, happy, and long lived people are always moderate and

abstemious in their habits. By moderation the life forces are preserved; by excess they are destroyed.

Men, also, who carry moderation into their thoughts, allaying their passions and feelings, avoiding all

unwholesome extremes and morbid sensations and sentiments, add knowledge and wisdom to

happiness and health, and thereby attain to the highest felicity and power. The immoderate destroy

themselves by their own folly. They weaken their energies and stultify their capabilities, and instead of

achieving an abiding success, reach only, at best, a fitful and precarious prosperity.

Efficiency proceeds from the right conservation of one‘s forces and powers. All skill is the use of

concentrated energy. Superior skill, as talent and genius, is a higher degree of concentrated force. Men

are always skillful in that which they love, because the mind is almost ceaselessly centered upon it.

Skill is the result of that mental economy which transmutes thought into invention and action. There

will be no prosperity without skill, and one‘s prosperity will be in the measure of one‘s skill. By a

process of natural selection, the inefficient fall in to their right places. Among the badly paid or

unemployed; for who will employ a man who cannot, or will not, do his work properly? An employer

may occasionally keep such a man out of charity; but this will be exceptional; as places of business,

offices, households, and all centers of organized activity, are not charitable institutions, but industrial

bodies which stand or fall but the fitness and efficiency of their individual members.

Skill is gained by thoughtfulness and attention. Aimless and inattentive people are usually out of

employment – to wit, the lounger at the street corner. They cannot do the simplest thing properly,

because they will not rouse up the mind to thought and attention. Recently an acquaintance of mine

employed a tramp to clean his windows, but the man had refrained from work and systematic thought

for so long that he had become incapable of both, and could not even clean a window. Even when

shown how to do it, he could not follow the simple instructions given. This is an instance, too, of the

fact that the simplest thing requires a measure of skill in the doing. Efficiency largely determines a

man‘s place among his fellows, and leads one on by steps to higher and higher positions as greater

powers are developed. The good workman is skillful, with his tools, while the good man is skillful with

his thoughts. Wisdom is the highest form of skill. Aptitude in incipient wisdom. There is one right way

of doing everything, even the smallest, and a thousand wrong ways. Skill consists in finding the one

right way, and adhering to it. The inefficient bungle confusedly about among the thousand wrong ways,

and do not adopt the right even when it is pointed out to them. They do this in some cases because they

think, in their ignorance, that they know best, thereby placing themselves in a position where it

becomes impossible to learn, even though it be only to learn how to clean a window or sweep a floor.

Thoughtlessness and inefficiency are all too common. There is plenty of room in the world for

common. There is plenty of room in the world for thoughtful and efficient people. Employers of labour

know how difficult it is to get the best workmanship. The good workman, whether with tools or brain,

whether with speech or thought, will always find a place for the exercise of his skill.

Resourcefulness is the outcome of efficiency. It is an important element in prosperity, for the

resourceful man is never confounded. He may have many falls, but he will always be equal to the

occasion, and will be on his feet again immediately. Resourcefulness has its fundamental cause in the

conservation of energy. It is energy transmuted. When a man cuts off certain mental or bodily vices

which have been depleting him of his energy, what becomes of the energy so conserved? It is not

destroyed or lost, for energy can never be destroyed or lost. It becomes productive energy. It reappears

in the form of fruitful thought. The virtuous man is always more successful than the vicious man

because he is teeming with resources. His entire mentality is alive and vigorous, abounding with stored

up energy. What the vicious man wastes in barren indulgence, the virtuous man uses in fruitful industry.

A new life and a new world, abounding with all fascinating pursuits and pure delights, open up to the

man who shuts himself off from the old world of animal vice, and his place will be assured by the

resources which will well up within him. Barren seed perishes in the earth; there is no place for it in the

fruitful economy of nature. Barren minds sink in the struggle of life. Human society makes for good,

and there is no room in it for the emptiness engendered by vice. But the barren mind will not sink for

ever. When it wills, it can become fruitful and regain itself. By the very nature of existence, by the

eternal law of progress, the vicious man must fall; but having fallen, he can rise again. He can turn from

vice to virtue, and stand, self respecting and secure, upon his own resources.

The resourceful men invent, discover, initiate. They cannot fail, for they are in the stream of progress.

They are full of new schemes, new methods, new hopes, and their life is so much fuller and richer

thereby. They are men of supple minds. When a man fails to improve his business, his work, his

methods, he falls out of the line of progress, and has begun to fail. His mind has become stiff and inert

like the body of an aged man, and so fails to keep pace with the rapidly moving ideas and plans of

resourceful minds. A resourceful mind is like a river which never runs dry, and which affords

refreshment, and supplies new vigour, in times of drought. Men of resources are men of new ideas, and

men of new ideas flourish where others fade and decay.

Originality is resourcefulness ripened and perfected. Where there is originality there is genius, and men

of genius are the lights of the world. Whatever work a man does, he should fall back upon his own

resources in the doing it. While learning from others, he should not slavishly imitate them, but should

put himself into his work, and so make it new and original. Original men get the ear of the world. They

may be neglected at first, but they are always ultimately accepted, and become patterns for mankind.

Once a man has acquired the knack of originality, he takes his place as a leader among men in his

particular department of knowledge and skill. But originality cannot be forced; it can only be

developed; and it is developed by proceeding from excellence to excellence, by ascending in the scale

of skill by the full and right use of one‘s mental powers. Let a man consecrate himself to his work, let

him, so consecrated, concentrate all his energies upon it, and the day will come when the world will

hail him as one of its strong sons; and he, too, like Balzac who, after many years of strenuous toil, one

day exclaimed, ―I am about to become a genius!, ―I am about to become a genius‖ will at least

discover, to his joy, that he has joined the company of original minds, the gods who lead mankind into

newer, higher, and more beneficent ways.

The composition of the Second Pillar is thus revealed. Its building awaits the ready work man who will

skillfully apply his mental energies.

4. Third pillar – Integrity

There is no striking a cheap bargain with prosperity. It must be purchased, not only with intelligent

labor, but with moral force. as the bubble cannot endure, so the fraud cannot prosper. He makes a

feverish spurt in the acquirement of money, and then collapses. Nothing is ever gained, ever can be

gained, by fraud. It is but wrested for a time, to be again returned with heavy interest. But fraud is not

confined to the unscrupulous swindler. All who are getting, or trying to get, money without giving an

equivalent are practicing fraud, whether they know it or not. Men who are anxiously scheming how to

get money without working for it, are frauds, and mentally they are closely allied to the thief and

swindler under whose influence they come, sooner or later, and who deprives them of their capital.

What is a thief but a man who carries to its logical or later, and who deprives them of their capital.

What is a thief but a man who carries to its logical extreme the desire to possess without giving a just

return – that is, unlawfully? The man that courts prosperity must, in all his transactions, whether

material or mental, study how to give a just return for that which he receives. This is the great

fundamental principle in all sound commerce, while in spiritual things it becomes the doing to others

that which we would have them do to us, and applied to the forces of the universe, it is scientifically

stated in the formula, ―Action and Reaction are equal.‖

Human life is reciprocal, not rapacious, and the man who regards all others as his legitimate prey will

soon find himself stranded in the desert of ruin, far away from the path of prosperity. He is too far

behind in the process of evolution to cope successfully with honest man. The fittest, the best, always

survive, and he being the worst, cannot therefore continue. His end, unless the change in time, is sure it

is the goal, the filthy hovel, or the place of the deserted outcast. His efforts are destructive, and not

constructive, and he thereby destroys himself.

It was Carlyle who, referring to Mohammed being then universally regarded by Christians as an

impostor, exclaimed, ―An impostor found a religion! An impostor couldn‘t built a brick house‖ an

impostor, a liar a cheat the man of dishonesty cannot build as he has neither tools or material with

which to build. He can no more build up a business, a character, a career, a success, than he can found a

religion or build a brick house. He not only does not build, but all his energies are bent on undermining

what others have built, but his being impossible, he undermines himself.

Without integrity, energy and economy will at last fail, but aided by integrity, their strength will be

greatly augmented. There is not an occasion in life in which the moral factor does not play an important

part. Sterling integrity tell wherever it is, and stamps it hall mark on all transactions; and it does this

because of its wonderful coherence and consistency, and its invincible strength. For the man of

integrity is in line with the fixed laws of things – not only with the fundamental principles on which

human society rests, but with the laws which hold the vast universe together. Who shall set these at

naught? Who, then, shall undermine the man of unblemished integrity? He is like a strong tree whose

roots are fed by perennial springs, and which no tempest can law low.

To be complete and strong, integrity must embrace the whole man, and extend to all the details of his

life; and it must be so through and permanent as to withstand all temptations to swerve into

compromise. To fail in one point is to fail in all, and to admit, under stress, a compromise with

falsehood, howsoever necessary and insignificant it may appear, is to throw down the shield of

integrity, and to stand exposed to the onslaughts of evil.

The man who works as carefully and conscientiously when his employer is away as when his eye is

upon him, will not long remain in an inferior position. Such integrity in duty, in performing the details

of his work, will quickly lead him into the fertile regions of prosperity.

The shirker, on the other hand – he who does not scruple to neglect his work when his employer is not

about, thereby robbing his employer of the time and labour for which he is paid – will quickly come to

the barren region of unemployment, and will look in vain for needful labour.

There will come a time, too, to the man who is not deeply rooted in integrity, when it will seem

necessary to his prospects and prosperity that he should tell a lie or do a dishonest thing – I say, to the

man who is not deeply rooted in this principle, for a man of fixed and enlightened integrity knows that

lying and dishonesty can never under any circumstance be necessary, and therefore he neither needs to

be tempted in this particular, nor can he possibly be tempted but the one so tempted must be able to cast

aside the subtle insinuation of falsehood which, in a time of indecision and perplexity, arises within

him, and he must stand firmly by the principle, being willing to lose and suffer rather than sink into

obliquity. In this way only can he become enlightened concerning this moral principle, and discover the

glad truth that integrity does not lead to loss and suffering, but to gain and joy; that honesty and

deprivation are not, and cannot be, related as cause and effect.

It is this willingness to sacrifice rather than be untrue that leads to enlightenment in all spheres of life;

and the man who, rather than sacrifice some selfish aim, will lie or deceive, has forfeited his right to

moral enlightenment, and takes his place lower down among the devotees of deceit, among the doers of

shady transactions, than men of no character and no reputation.

A man is not truly armoured with integrity until he has become incapable of lying or deceiving either

by gesture, word, or act; until he sees, clearly, openly, and freed from all doubt, the deadly effects of

such moral turpitude. The man so enlightened is protect from all quarters, and can no more be

undermined by dishonest men than the sun can be pulled down from heaven by madmen, and the

arrows of selfishness and treachery that may be poured upon him will rebound from the strong armour

of his integrity and the bright shield of his righteousness, leaving him unharmed and untouched.

A lying tradesman will tell you that no man can thrive and be honest in these days of keen competition.

How can such a man know this, seeing that he has never tried honest? Moreover, such a man has no

knowledge of honesty, and his statement is therefore, a statement of ignorance, and ignorance and

falsehood so blind a man that he foolishly imagines all are as ignorant and false as himself. I have

known such tradesmen, and have seen them come to ruin. I once heard a businessman make the

following statement in a public meeting:-―No man can be entirely honest in business; he can only be

approximately honest.‖ He imagined that his statement revealed the condition of the business world; it

did not, it revealed his own condition. He was merely telling his audience that he was a dishonest man,

but his ignorance, moral ignorance, prevented him from seeing this. Approximate honesty is only

another term for dishonesty. The man who deviated a little from the straight path, will deviate more. He

has no fixed principle of right and is only thinking of his own advantage. That he persuades himself

that his particular dishonesty is of a white and harmless kind, and that he is not so bad as his neighbour,

is only of the many forms of self delusion which ignorance of moral principles creates.

Right doing between man and main in the varied relations and transactions of life is the very soul of

integrity. It includes, but is more than, honesty. It is the backbone of human society, and the support of

human institutions. Without it there would be no trust, no confidence between men, and the business

world would topple to its fall.

As the liar thinks all men are liars, and treats them as such, so the man of integrity treats all men with

confidence. He trusts them, and they trust him. His clear eye and open hand shame the creeping fraud

so that he cannot practice his fraud on him. As Emerson has so finely put it – ―Trust men and they will

be true to you, even though they make an exception in your favor to al their rules of trade.‖

The upright man by his very presence commands the morality of those about him making them better

than they were. Men are powerfully influenced by one another, and, as good is more powerful than evil,

the strong and good man both shames and elevates, by his contact, the weak and bad.

The man of integrity carries about with him an unconscious grandeur which both awes and inspires.

Having lifted himself above the petty, the mean, and the false, those coward vices slink from his

presence in confusion. The highest intellectual gift cannot compare with this lofty moral grandeur. In

the memory of men and the estimation of the world the man of integrity occupies a higher place than

the man of genius. Buckminster says, ―The moral grandeur of an independent integrity is the sublimest

thing in nature.‖ It is the quality in man which produces heroes. The man of unswerving rectitude is,

intrinsically, always a hero. It only needs the occasion to bring out the heroic element. He is always,

too, possessed a permanent happiness. The man of genius may be very unhappy, but not to the man of

integrity. Nothing nor sickness, nor calamity, nor death – can deprive him of that permanent satisfaction

which inheres in uprightness.

Rectitude leads straight to prosperity by four successive steps. First, the upright man wins the

confidence of others. Second, having gained their confidence, they put trust in him. Third, this trust,

never being violated, produces a good reputation; and fourth, a good reputation spreads further and

further, and so bring about success.

Dishonesty has the reverse effect. By destroying the confidence of others, it produces in them suspicion

and mistrust, and these bring about a bad reputation, which culminates in failure.

The Pillar of Integrity is held together by these four virile elements:

1. Honesty

2. Fearlessness

3. Purposefulness

4. Invincibility

Honesty is the surest way to success. The day at last comes when the dishonest man repents in sorrow

and suffering: but not man ever needs to repent of having been honest. Even when the honest man fails

– as he does sometimes, through lacking other of these pillars, such as energy, economy, or system his

failure is not the grievous thing it is to the dishonest man, for he can always rejoice in the fact that he

has never defrauded a fellow being. Even in his darkest hour he finds repose in a clear conscience.

Ignorant men imagine that dishonesty is a short cut to prosperity. This is why they practice it. The

dishonest man is morally short sighted. Like the drunkard who sees the immediate pleasure of his habit,

but not the ultimate degradation, he sees the immediate effect of a dishonest act – a larger profit but not

its ultimate outcome; he does not see that an accumulated number of such acts must inevitably

undermine his character, and bring his business toppling about his ears in ruin. While pocketing his

gains, and thinking how cleverly and successfully he is imposing on others, he is all the time imposing

on himself, and every coin thus gained must be paid back with added interest, and from this just

retribution there is no possible loophole of escape. This moral gravitation is an sure and unvarying as

the physical gravitation of a stone to the earth.

The tradesman who demands of his assistants that they shall be, and misrepresents his goods to

customers, is surrounding himself on all hands with suspicion, mistrust, and hatred. Even the moral

weaklings who carry out his instructions, despise him while defiling themselves with his unclean work.

How can success thrive in such a poisonous atmosphere? The spirit of ruin is already in such a

business, and the day of his fall is ordained.

An honest man may fail, but not because he is honest, and his failure will be honourable, and will not

injure his character and reputation. His failure, too, resulting doubtless from his incapacity in the

particular direction of his failure, will be a means of leading him into something more suited to his

talents, and thus to ultimate success.

Fearlessness accompanies honesty. The honest man has a clear eye and an unflinching gaze. He looks

his fellowmen in the face, and his speech is direct and convincing. The liar and cheat hangs his head;

his eye is muddy and his gaze oblique. He cannot look another man in the eye, and his speech arouses

mistrust, for it is ambiguous and unconvincing.

When a man has fulfilled his obligations, he has nothing to fear. All his business relations are safe and

secure. His methods and actions will endure the light of day. Should he pass through a difficult time,

and, get into debt, everybody will trust him and be willing to wait for payment, and all his debts will be

paid. Dishonest people try to avoid paying their debts, and they live in fear; but the honest man tries to

avoid getting into debt, but when debt overtakes him, he does not fear, but, redoubling his exertions, his

debts are paid.

The dishonest are always in fear. They do not fear debt, but fear that they will have to pay their debts.

They fear their fellow-men, fear the established authorities, fear the results of all that they do, and they

are in constant fear of their misdeeds being revealed, and of the consequences which may at any

moment overtake them.

The honest man is rid of all this burden of fear. He is light hearted, and walks erect among his fellows;

not assuming a part, and skulking and cringing, but being himself, and meeting eye to eye. Not

deceiving or injuring any, there are none to fear, and anything and against him can only rebound to his

advantage.

And this fearlessness is, in itself, a tower to strength in a man‘s life, supporting him through all

emergencies, enabling him to battle manfully with difficulties, and in the end securing for him that

success of which he cannot be dispossessed.

Purposefulness is the direct outcome of that strength of character which integrity fosters. The man of

integrity is the man of direct aims and strong and intelligent purposes. He does not guess, and work in

the dark. All his plans have in them some of that moral fiber of which his character is wrought. A man‘s

work will always in some way reflect himself, and the man of sound integrity is the man of sound plan.

He weights and considers and looks ahead, and so is less likely to make serious mistakes, or to bungle

into a dilemma from which it is difficult to escape. Taking a moral view of all things, and always

considering moral consequences, he stands on a firmer and more exalted ground than the man of mere

policy and expedience; and while commanding a more extended view of any situation, he wields the

greater power which a more comprehensive grasp of details with the principles involved, confers upon

him. Morality always has the advantage of expediency. Its purposes always reach down far below the

surface, and are therefore more firm and secure, more strong and lasting. There is a native directness,

too, about integrity, which enables the man to get straight to the mark in whatever he does, and which

makes failure almost impossible.

Strong men have strong purposes, and strong purposes lead to strong achievements. The man of

integrity is above all men strong, and his strength is manifested in that thoroughness with which he

does the business of his life; thoroughness which commands respect, admiration, and success.

Invincibility is a glorious protector, but it only envelopes the man whose integrity is perfectly pure and

unassailable. Never to violate, even in the most insignificant particular, the principle of integrity, is to

be invincible against all the assaults of innuendo, slander, and misrepresentation. The man who has

failed in one point is vulnerable, and the shaft of evil, entering that point, will lay him low, like the

arrow in the heel of Achilles. Pure and perfect integrity is proof against all attack and injury, enabling

its possessor to meet all opposition and persecution with dauntless courage and sublime equanimity. No

amount of talent, intellect, or business acumen can give a man that power of mind and peace of heart

which come from an enlightened acceptance and observance of lofty moral principles. Moral force is

the greatest power. Let the seeker for a true prosperity discover this force, let him foster and develop it

in his mind and in his deeds, and as he succeeds he will take his place among the strong leaders of the

earth.

Such is the strong and adamantine Pillar of integrity. Blessed and prosperous above all men will be he

who builds its incorruptible masonry into the temple of his life.

5. Fourth pillar – System

System is that principle of order by which confusion is rendered impossible. In the natural and

universal order everything is in its place, so that the vast universe runs more perfectly than the most

perfect machine. Disorder in space would mean the destruction of the universe; and disorder in a man‘s

affairs destroys his work and his prosperity.

All complex organizations are built up by system. No business or society can develop into large

dimensions apart from system, and this principle is preeminently the instrument of the merchant, the

business man, and the organizer of institutions.

There are many departments in which a disorderly man may succeed – although attention to order

would increase his success but he will not succeed in business unless he can place the business entirely

in the hands of a systematic manager, who will thereby remedy his own defect.

All large business concerns have been evolved along definitely drawn systematic lines, any violation of

which would be disastrous to the efficiency and welfare of the business. Complex business or other

organizations are built up like complex bodies in nature, by scrupulous attention to details. The

disorderly man thinks he can be careless about every thing but the main end, but by ignoring the means

he frustrates the end. By the disarrangement of details, organisms perish, and by the careless neglect of

details, the growth of any work or concern is prevented.

Disorderly people waste an enormous amount of time and energy. The time frittered away in hunting

for things is sufficient, were if conserved by order, to enable them to achieve any success, for slovenly

people never have a place for anything, and have to hunt, frequently for a long time, for any article

which they require. In the irritation, bad humour, and chagrin which this daily hunting for things brings

about, as much energy is dissipated as would be required to build up a big business, or scale the highest

heights of achievement in any direction.

Orderly people conserve both their time and energy. They never lose anything, and therefore never

have to find anything. Everything is in its place, and the hand can be at once placed upon it, though it

be in the dark. They can well afford to be cool and deliberate and so use their mental energies in

something more profitable than irritation, bad temper and accusing others for their own lack of order.

There is a kind of genius in system which can perform apparent wonders with ease. A systematic man

can get through so great a quantity of work in such a short time, and with such freedom from such

exhaustion, as to appear almost miraculous. He scale the heights of success while his slovenly

competitor is wallowing hopelessly in the bogs of confusion. His strict observance of the law of order

enables him to reach his ends, swiftly and smoothly, without friction or loss of time.

The demands of system, in all departments of the business world, are as rigid and exacting as the holy

vows of a saint, and cannot be violated in the smallest particular but at the risk of one‘s financial

prospects. In the financial world, the law of order is an iron necessity, and he who faultlessly observes

it, saves time, temper, and money.

Every enduring achievement in human society rests upon a basis of system; so true is this, that were

system withdrawn, progress would cease. Think, for instance, of the vast achievements of literature the

works of classic authors and of great geniuses; the great poems, the innumerable prose works, the

monumental histories, the soul – stirring orations; think also the social intercourse of human society, of

it religions, its legal statutes, and its vast fund of book knowledge think of all these wonderful

resources and achievements of language, and then reflect that they all depend for their origin, growth,

and continuance on the systematic arrangements of twenty six letters, an arrangement having

inexhaustible and illimitable results by the fact of its rigid limitation within certain fixed rules.

Again; all the wonderful achievements of mathematics have come from the systematic arrangement of

ten figures; while the most complex piece of machinery, with its thousands of parts working together

smoothly and almost noiselessly to the achievement of the end for which it was designed, was brought

forth by the systematic observance of a few mechanical laws.

Herein we see how system simplifies that is complex: how it makes easy that which was difficult; how

it relates an infinite variety of details of the one central law or order, and so enables them to be dealt

with and accounted for with perfect regularity, and with an entire absence of confusion.

The scientist names and classifies the myriad details of the universe, from the microscopic rotifer to the

telescopic star, by his observance of the principle of system, so that out of many millions of objects,

reference can be made to any one object in, at most, a few minutes. It is this faculty of speedy

references and swift dispatch which is of such overwhelming importance in every department of

knowledge and industry, and the amount of time and labour thus saved to humanity is so vast as to be

incompatible. We speak of religious, political, and business systems; and so on, indicating that all

things in human society are welded together by the adhesive qualities of order.

System is, indeed, one of the great fundamental principles in progress, and in the binding together, in

one complete whole, of the world‘s millions of human beings while they are at the same time each

striving for a place and are competing with one another in opposing aims and interest.

We see here how system is allied with greatness, for the many separate units whose minds are untrained

to the discipline of system, are kept in their places by the organizing power of the comparatively few

who perceive the urgent, the inescapable, necessity for the establishment of fixed and inviolable rules,

whether in business, law, religion, science, or politics in fact, in every sphere of human activity for

immediately two human beings meet together, they need some common ground of understanding for

the avoidance of confusion; in a word, some system to regulate their actions.

Life is too short for confusion; and knowledge grows and progress proceeds along avenues of system

which prevent retardation and retrogression, so that he who systematizes his knowledge or business,

simplifies and enhances it for his successor, enabling him to begin, with a free mind, where he left off.

Every large business has its system which renders its vast machinery workable, enabling it to run like a

well balanced and well oiled machine. A remarkable business man, a friend of mine, once told me that

he could have his huge business for twelve months, and it would run on without hitch till his return;

and he does occasionally leave it for several months, while travelling, and on his return, every man,

boy and girl; every tool, book, and machine; every detail down to the smallest, is in its place doing its

work as when he left; and no trouble, no difficulty, no confusion has arisen.

There can be no marked success part from a love of regularity and discipline, and the avoidance of

friction, along with the restfulness and efficiency of mind which spring from such regularity. People

who abhor discipline, whose minds are ungoverned and anarchic, and who are careless and irregular in

their thinking, their habits and the management of their affairs, cannot be highly successful and

prosperous, and they fill their lives with numerous worries, troubles, difficulties, and petty annoyances,

all of which would disappear under a proper regulation of their lives.

An unsystematic mind is an untrained mind and it can no more cope with well disciplined minds in the

race of life than an untrained athlete can successfully complete with a carefully trained competitor in

athletic competitor in athletic races. The ill disciplined mind, that thinks anything will do, rapidly falls

behind the well disciplined minds who are convinced that only the best will do in the strenuous race for

the prizes of life, whether they be material, mental, or moral prizes. The man who, when he comes to

do his work, is unable to find his tools, or to balance his figures, or to find the key of his desk, or the

key to his thoughtless, will be struggling in his self made toils while his methodical neighbor will be

freely and joyfully scaling the invigorating heights of successful achievement. The business man whose

method is slovenly, or cumbersome, or behind the most recent developments of skilled minds, should

only blame himself as his prospects are decadent, and should wake up to the necessity for more highly

specialized and effective methods in his concern. He should seize upon every thing – every invention

and idea – that will enable him to economize time and labour, and aid him in thoroughness, deliberation

and dispatch.

System is the law by which everything – every organism, business, character, nation, empire – is built.

By adding cell to cell, department to department, thought to thought, law to law, and colony to colony

in orderly sequence and classification, all things, concerns and institutions grow in magnitude, and

evolve to completeness. The man who is continually improving his methods, is gaining in building

power; it therefore behoves the business man to be resourceful and inventive in the improvement of his

methods, for the builders – whether of cathedrals or characters, business or religions – are the strong

ones of the earth, and the protectors and pioneers of humanity. The systematic builder is a creator and

preserver, while the man of disorder demolishes and destroys, and no limit can be set to the growth of a

man‘s powers, the completeness of his character, the influence of his organization, or the extent of his

business, if he but preserve intact the discipline of order, and have every detail in its place, keep every

department to its special task, and tabulate and classify with such efficiency and perfection as to enable

him at any moment to bring under examination or into requisition to the remotest detail in connection

with his special work.

In system is contained these four ingredients:

1. Readiness

2. Reccuracy

3. Utility

4. Comprehensiveness

Readiness is aliveness. It is that spirit of alertness by which a situation is immediately grasped and dealt

with. The observance of system fosters and develops this spirit. The successful General must have the

power of readily meeting any new and unlooked for move on the part of the enemy; so every business

man must have the readiness to deal with any unexpected development affecting his line of trade; and

so also must the man of thought be able to deal with the details of any new problems which may arise.

Dilatoriness is a vice that is fatal to prosperity, for it leads to incapability and stupidity. The men of

ready hands, ready hearts, and ready brains, who know what they are doing, and do it methodically,

skillfully, and with smooth yet consummate despatch are the men who need to think little of prosperity

as an end, for it comes to them whether they seek it or not; success runs after them, and knocks at their

door; and they unconsciously command it by the superb excellence of their faculties and methods.

Accuracy is of supreme importance in all commercial concerns and enterprises, but there can be no

accuracy apart from system, and a system which is more or less imperfect will involve its originator in

mistakes more or less disastrous until he improves it.

Inaccuracy is one of the commonest failings, because accuracy is closely allied to self-discipline, and

self-discipline, along with that glad subjection to external discipline which it involves, is an indication

of high moral culture to which the majority have not yet attained. If the inaccurate man will not

willingly subject himself to the discipline of his employer or instructor, but thinks he knows better, his

failing can never be remedied, and he will thereby bind himself down to an inferior position, if in the

business world; or to imperfect knowledge, if in the world of thought.

The prevalence of the vice of inaccuracy (and in view of its disastrous effect it must be regarded as a

vice, though perhaps one of the lesser vices) is patent to every observe in the way in which the majority

of people relate a circumstance or repeat a simple statement of fact. It is nearly always made untrue by

more or less marked inaccuracies. Few people, perhaps (not reckoning those who deliberately lie), have

trained themselves to be accurate in what they say, or are so careful as to admit and state their liability

to error, and from this common form of inaccuracy many untruths and misunderstandings arise.

More people take pains to be accurate in what they do than in what they say, but even here inaccuracy

is very common, rendering many inefficient and incompetent, and unfitting them for any strenuous and

well sustained endeavour. The man who habitually uses up a portion of his own or his employer‘s time

in trying to correct his errors, or for the correction of whose mistakes another has to be employed, is

not the man to maintain any position in the work a day world; much less to reach a place among the

ranks of the prosperous.

There never yet lived a man who did not make some mistakes on his way to his particular success, but

he is the capable and right minded man who perceives his mistakes and quickly remedies them, and

who is glad when they are pointed out to him. It is habitual and persistent; inaccuracy which is a vice;

and he is the incapable and wrong minded man who will not see or admit his mistakes, and who takes

offence when they are pointed out to him.

The progressive man learns by his own mistakes as well as by the mistakes of others. He is always

ready to test good advice by practice, and aims at greater and ever greater accuracy in his methods,

which means higher and higher perfection, for accuracy is perfect, and the measure of a man‘s accuracy

will be the measure of his uniqueness and perfection.

Utility or usefulness, is the direct result of method in one‘s work. Labour arrives at fruitful and

profitable ends when it is systematically pursued. If the gardener is to gather in the best produce, he

must not only sow and plant, but he must sow and plant at the right time; and if any work is to be

fruitful in results, it must be done seasonably, and the time for doing a thing must not be allowed to

pass by.

Utility considers the practical end; and employs the best means to reach that end. It avoids side issues,

dispenses with theories, and retains its hold only on those things which can appropriated to good uses

in the economy of life.

Unpractical people burden their minds with useless and unverifiable theories, and court failure by

entertaining speculations which, by their very nature, cannot be applied in practice. The man whose

powers are shown in what he does, and not in mere talking are arguing, avoids metaphysical quibbling

and quandaries, and applies himself to the accomplishment of some good and useful end.

That which cannot be reduced to practice should not be allowed to hamper the mind. It should be

thrown aside, abandoned, and ignored. A man recently told me that if his theory should be proved to

have no useful end, he should still retain his hold upon it as a beautiful theory. If a man chooses to cling

to so-called ―beautiful‖ theories which are proved to have no use in life, and no substantial basis of

reality, he must not be surprised if he fails in his wordly undertakings, for he is an unpractical man.

When the powers of the mind are diverted from speculative theorizing to practical doing, whether in

material or moral directions, skill, power, knowledge, and prosperity increase. A man‘s prosperity is

measured by his usefulness to the community, and a man is useful in accordance with that he does, and

not because of the theories which he entertains.

The carpenter fashions a chair; the builder erects a house; the mechanic produces a machine; and the

wise man moulds a perfect character. Not the schismatic, the theorists and the controversialists, but the

workers, the makers, and the doers are the salt of the earth.

Let a man turn away from the mirages of intellectual speculation, and begin to do something, and to do

it with all his might, and he will thereby gain a special knowledge, wield a special power, and reach his

own unique position and prosperity among his fellows.

Comprehensiveness is that quality of mind which enables a man to deal with a large number of related

details, to grasp them in their entirety, along with the single principle which governs them and binds

them together. It is a masterly quality, giving organizing and governing power, and is developed by

systematic attention to details. The successful merchant holds in his mind, as it were, all the details of

his business, and regulates them by a system adapted to his particular form of trade. The inventor has in

his mind all the details of his machine, along with their relation to a central mechanical principle, and

so perfects his invention. The author of a great poem or story relates all his characters and incidents to a

central plot, and so produces a composite and enduring literary work. Comprehensiveness is analytic

and synthetic capacity combined in the same individual. A capacious and well ordered mind, which

holds within its silent depths an army of details in their proper arrangement and true working order, is

the mind that is near to genius, even if it has not already arrived. Every man cannot be a genius nor

does he need to be, but he can be gradually evolving his mental capacity by careful attention to system

in his thoughts and business, and as his intellect depends and broadens his powers will be intensified

and his prosperity accentuated.

Such, then, are four corner pillars in the Temple of Prosperity, and of themselves they are sufficient to

permanently sustain it without the addition of the remaining four. The man who perfects himself in

Energy, Economy, Integrity, and System will achieve an enduring success in the work of his life, no

matter what the nature of that work may be. It is impossible for one to fail who is full of energy, who

carefully economizes his time and money, and virtuously husbands his vitality, who practices

unswerving integrity, and who systematizes his work by first systematizing his mind.

Such a man‘s efforts will be rightly directed, and that, too, with concentrated power, so that they will be

effective and fruitful. In addition he will reach a manliness and an independent dignity which will

unconsciously command respect and success, and will strengthen weaker ones by its very presence in

their midst. ―Seest thou a man diligent in business; he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before

mean men,‖ says Scripture of such a one. He will not beg, or whimper, or complain, or cynically blame

others, but will be too strong and pure and upright a man to sink himself so low. And so standing high

in the nobility and integrity of his character, he will fill a high place in the world and in the estimation

of men. His success will be certain and his prosperity will endure. ―He will stand and not fall in the

battle of life.‖

6. Fifth pillar – Sympathy

The remaining pillars are the four central pillars in the Temple of Prosperity. They gave it greater

strength and stability, and add both to its beauty and utility. They contribute greatly to its attractiveness,

for they belong to the highest moral sphere, and therefore to great beauty and nobility of character.

They, indeed, make a man great, and place him among the comparatively few whose minds are rare,

and that shine apart in sparkling purity and bright intelligence.

Sympathy should not be confounded with that maudlin and superficial sentiment which, like a pretty

flower without root, presently perishes and leaves behind neither seed nor fruit. To fall into hysterical

some suffering abroad, is not sympathy. Neither are bursts of violent indignation against the cruelties

and injustices of others nor any indication of a sympathetic mind. If one is cruel at home – if he

badgers his wife, or beats his children, or abuses his servants, or stabs his neighbors with shafts of

bitter sarcasm what hypocrisy is in his profession of love for suffering people who are outside the

immediate range of his influence! What shallow sentiment informs his bursts of indignation against the

injustice and hard heartedness in the world around him.

Says Emerson of such – ―Go, love they infant; love thy wood chopper; be good natured and modest;

have that grace; and never varnish your hard uncharitable ambition with this incredible tenderness for

black folk a thousand miles off. They love afar is spite at home‖. The test of a man is in his immediate

acts, and not in ultra sentiments; and if those acts are consistently informed with selfishness and

bitterness, if those at home hear his steps with dread, and feel a joyful relief on his departure, how

empty are his expressions of sympathy for the suffering or down trodden how futile his membership of

a philanthropic society.

Though the well of sympathy may feed the spring of tears, that spring more often draws its supply from

the dark pool of selfishness, for when selfishness is thwarted it spends itself in tears.

Sympathy is a deep, silent, inexpressible tenderness which is shown in a consistently self forgetful

gentle character. Sympathetic people are not gushing and spasmodic, but are permanently self

restrained, firm, quiet, unassuming and gracious. Their undisturbed demeanour, where the suffering of

others is concerned, is frequently mistaken for indifference by shallow minds, but the sympathetic and

discerning eye recognizes, in their quiet strength and their swiftness to aid while others are sweeping,

and wronging their hands, the deepest, soundest sympathy.

Lack of sympathy is shown in cynicism, illnatured sarcasm, bitter ridicule, taunting and mockery, and

anger and condemnation, as well as in that morbid and false sentiment which is a theoretical and

assumed sympathy, having no basis in practice.

Lack of sympathy arises in egotism; sympathy arises in love. Egotism is involved in ignorance; love is

allied to knowledge. It is common with men to imagine themselves as separate from their fellows, with

separate aims and interests; and to regard themselves as right and others wrong in their respective

ways. Sympathy lifts a man above this separate and self centred life and enables him to live in the

hearts of his fellows, and to think and feel with them. He puts himself in their place, and becomes, for

the time being, as they are. As Whitman, the hospital hero, expresses it – ―I do not ask the wounded

person.‖ It is a kind of impertinence to question a suffering creature. Suffering calls for aid and

tenderness, and not for curiosity; and the sympathetic man or woman feels the suffering, and ministers

to its alleviation.

Nor can sympathy boast, and wherever self praise enters in, sympathy passes out. If one speaks of his

many deeds of kindness, and complains of the ill treatment he has received in return, he has not done

kindly deeds, but has yet to reach that self forgetful modest which is the sweetness of sympathy.

Sympathy, in its real and profound sense, is oneness with others in their strivings and sufferings, so that

the man of sympathy is a composite being; he is, as it were, a number of men, and he views a thing

from a number of different sides, and not from one side only, and that his own particular side. He sees

with the others men‘s eyes, hears with their ears, thinks with their minds, and feels with their hearts. He

is thus able to understand men who are vastly different from himself; the meaning of their lives is

revealed to him, and he is united to them in the spirit of goodwill. Said Balzac – ―The poor fascinate

me; their hunger is my hunger; I am with them in their homes; their privations I suffer; I feel the

beggar‘s rags upon my back; I for the time being become the poor and despised man.‖ It reminds us of

the saying of One greater than Balzac, that a deed done for a suffering little one was done for him.

And so it is; sympathy leads us to the hearts of all men, so that we become spiritually united to them,

and when they suffer we feel the pain; when they are glad we rejoice with them; when they are

despised and persecuted, we spiritually descend with them into the depths, and take into our hearts their

humiliation and distress; and he who has this binding, uniting spirit of sympathy, can never be cynical

and condemnatory can never pass thoughtless and cruel judgements upon his fellows; because in his

tenderness of heart he is ever with them in their pain.

But to have reached this ripened sympathy, it must needs be that one has loved much, suffered much

and sounded the dark depths of sorrow. It springs from acquaintance with the profoundest experiences,

so that a man has ad conceit, thoughtlessness, and selfishness burnt out of his heart. No man can have

true sympathy who has not been, in some measure at least, ―a man of sorrows, and acquainted with

grief,‖ but the sorrow and grief must have passed, must have ripened into a fixed kindness and habitual

calm.

To have suffered so much in a certain direction that the suffering is finished, and only its particular

wisdom remains, enables one, wherever that suffering presents itself, to understand and deal with it by

pure sympathy; and when one has been ―perfected by suffering‖ in many directions, he becomes a

centre of rest and healing for the sorrowing and broken hearted who are afflicted with the affections

which he has experienced and conquered. As a mother feels the anguish of her suffering child, so the

man of sympathy feels the anguish of suffering men.

Such is the highest and holiest sympathy, but a sympathy much less perfect is a great power for good in

human life and a measure of it is everywhere and every day needed. While rejoicing in the fact that in

every walk in life there are truly sympathetic people, one also perceives that harshness, resentment, and

cruelty are all too common. These hard qualities bring their own sufferings, and there are those who fail

in their business, or particular work, entirely because of the harshness of their disposition. A man who

is fiery and resentful, or who is hard, cold and calculating, with the springs of sympathy dried up within

him, even though he be otherwise an able man, will, in the end scarcely avoid disaster in his affairs. His

heated folly in the one case, or cold cruelty in the other, will gradually isolate him from his fellows and

from those who are immediately related to him in his particular avocation, so that the elements of

prosperity will be eliminated from his life, leaving him with a lonely failure, and perhaps a hopeless

despair.

Even in ordinary business transactions, sympathy is an important factor, for people will always be

attracted to those who are of a kindly and genial nature, preferring to deal with them rather than with

those who are hard and forbidding. In all spheres where direct personal contact plays an important part,

the sympathetic man with average ability will always take precedence of the man of greater ability but

who is unsympathetic.

If a man be a minister or a clergyman, a cruel laugh or an unkind sentence from him will seriously

injure his reputation and influence, but particularly his influence, for even they who admire his good

qualities will, through his unkindness, unconsciously have a lower regard for him in their personal

esteem.

If a business man profess religion, people will expect to see the good influence of that religion on his

business transactions. To profess to be a worshipper of the gentle Jesus on Sunday, and all the rest of

the wee be a hard, grasping worshipper of mammon, will injure his trade, and detract considerably

from his prosperity.

Sympathy is a universal spiritual language which all, even the animals, instinctively understand and

appreciate, for all beings and creatures are subject to suffering, and this sameness of painful experience

leads to that unity of feeling which we call sympathy.

Selfishness impels men to protect themselves at the expense of others; but sympathy impels them to

protect others by the sacrifice of self; and in this sacrifice of self there is no real and ultimate loss, for

while the pleasure of selfishness are small and few, the blessings of sympathy are great and manifold.

It may be asked, ―How can a business man; whose object is to develop his own trade, practice self-

sacrifice?‖ Even man can practice self sacrifice just where he is, and in the measure that he is capable

of understand it. If one contends that he cannot practice a virtue it, for were his circumstances different,

he would still have the same excuse. Diligence in business is not incompatible with self sacrifice, for

devotion to duty, even though that duty be trade, is not selfishness, but may be an unselfish devotion. I

know a business man who, when a competitor who had tried to ‗cut him out‘ in business, cut himself

out and failed, set that same competitor up in business again. Truly a beautiful act of self sacrifice; and

the man that did it is, today, one of the most successful and prosperous of business men.

The most prosperous commercial traveler I have ever known, was overflowing with exuberant kindness

and geniality. He was as innocent of all ―tricks of trade‖ as a new born infant, but his great heart and

manly uprightness won for him fast friends wherever he went. Men were glad to see him come into

their office or shop or mill, and not alone for the good and bracing influence he brought with him, but

also because his business was sound and trustworthy. This man was successful through sheer sympathy,

but sympathy so pure and free from policy, that he himself would probably have denied that his success

could be attributed to it. Sympathy can never hinder success. It is selfishness that blights and destroys.

As goodwill increases, man‘s prosperity will increase. All interests are mutual, and stand or fall

together, and as sympathy expands the heart, it extends the circle of influence, making blessings, both

spiritual and material, to more greatly abound.

Fourfold are the qualities which make up the great virtue of sympathy, namely:-

1. Kindness

2. Generosity

3. Gentleness

4. Insight

Kindness, when fully developed, is not a passing impulse but a permanent quality. An intermittent and

unreliable impulse is not kindness, though it often goes under that name. There is no kindness in praise

if it be followed by abuse. The love which seems to prompt the spontaneous kiss will be of little

account if it be associated with a spontaneous spite. The gift which seemed so gracious will lose its

value should the giver afterwards wish its value in return. To have one‘s feelings aroused to do a kind

action towards another by some external stimulus pleasing to one‘s self, and shortly afterwards to be

swayed to the other extreme towards the same person by an external event unpleasing to one‘s self,

should be regarded as weakness of character; and it is also a selfish condition, us, and when he pleases

us, to be thinking of one‘s self only. A true kindness is unchangeable, and needs no external stimulus to

force it into action. It is a well from which thirsty souls can always drink, and it never runs dry.

Kindness, when it is a strong virtue, is bestowed not only on those who please us, but also upon those

whose actions go contrary to our wish and will, and it is a constant and never – varying glow of genial

warmth.

There are some actions of which men repent; such are all unkind actions. There are other actions of

which men do not repent, and such are all kind actions. The day comes when men are sorry for the

cruel things they said and did; but the day of gladness is always with them for the kindly things they

have said and done.

Unkindness mars a man‘s character, it mars his face as time goes on, and it mars that perfection of

success which he would otherwise reach.

Kindness beautifies the character, it beautifies the face with the growth of the years, and it enables a

man to reach that perfection of success to which his intellectual abilities entitle him. A man‘s prosperity

is mellowed and enriched by the kindness of his disposition.

Generosity goes with a larger hearted kindness. If kindness be the gentle sister, Generosity is the strong

brother. A free, open handed, and magnanimous character is always attractive and influential.

Stringiness and meanness always repel; they are dark, cramped, narrow, and cold. Kindness and

generosity always attack; they are sunny, genial, open, and warm. That which repels makes for isolation

and failure; that which attracts makes for union and success.

Giving is as important a duty as getting; and he who gets all he can, and refuses to give, will at last be

unable to get; for it is as much a spiritual law that we cannot get unless we give, as that we cannot give

unless we get.

Giving has always been taught as a great and important duty by all the religious teachers. This is

because giving is one of the highways of personal growth and progress. It is a means by which we

attain to greater and greater unselfishness, and by which we prevent the falling back into selfishness. It

implies that we recognize our spiritual and social kinship with our fellow-men, and are willing to part

with a portion of that we have earned or possess, for man who, the more he gets, hungers for more still,

and refuses to loosen his grasp upon his accumulating store, like a wild beast with its prey, is

retrogressing; he is shutting himself out from all the higher and joy giving qualities, and from free and

life giving communion with unselfish, happy human hearts. Dickens‘s Scrooge in ―A Christmas Carol‖

represents the condition of such a man with graphic vividness and dramatic force.

Our public men in England to-day (probably also in America) are nearly all (I think I might say all, for

I have not yet met an exception) great givers. These men – Lord Mayors, Mayors, Magistrates, Town

and City Councillors, and all men filling responsible public offices – being men who have been

singularly successful in the management of their own private affairs, are considered the best men for

the management of public affairs, and numerous noble institutions throughout the land are perpetual

witnesses to the munificence of their gifts. Nor have I been able to find any substantial truth in the

accusation, so often hurled against such men by the envious and unsuccessful, that their riches are

made unjustly. Without being perfect men, they are an honourable class of manly, vigorous, generous,

and successful men, who have acquired riches and honour by sheer industry, ability and uprightness.

Let a man beware of greed, of meanness, of envy, of jealousy, of suspicion, for these things, if

harboured, will rob him of all that is best in life, aye, even all that is best in material things, as well as

all that is best in character and happiness. Let him be liberal of heart and generous of hand,

magnanimous and trusting, not only giving cheerfully and often of his substance, but allowing his

friends and fellow-men freedom of thought and action – let him be thus, and honour, plenty, and

prosperity will come knocking at the door for admittance as his friends and guests.

Gentleness is akin to divinity. Perhaps no quality is so far removed from all that is coarse, brutal and

selfish as gentleness, so that when one is becoming gentle, he is becoming divine. It can only be

acquired after much experience and through great self-discipline. It only becomes established in a

man‘s heart when he has controlled and brought into subjection his animal voice, a distinct, firm, but

quiet enunciation, and freedom from excitement, vehemence, or resentment in peculiarly aggravating

circumstances.

If there is one quality which, above all others, should distinguish the religious man, it is the quality of

gentleness, for it is the hall mark of spiritual culture. The rudely aggressive man is an affront to

cultivated minds and unselfish hearts. Our word gentlemen has not altogether departed from its original

meaning. It is still applied to one who is modest and self-restrained, and is considerate for the feelings

and welfare of others. A gentle man one whose good behavior is prompted by thoughtfulness and

kindliness is always loved, whatever may be his origin. Quarrelsome people make a display in their

bickering and recriminations – of their ignorance and lack of culture. The man who has perfected

himself in gentleness never quarrels. He never returns the hard word; he leaves it alone, or meets it with

a gentle word which is far more powerful than wrath. Gentleness is wedded to wisdom, and the wise

man has overcome all anger in himself, and so understands how to overcome it in others. The

gentleman is saved from most of the disturbances and turmoil‘s with which uncontrolled men afflict

themselves. While they are wearing themselves out with wasteful and needless strain, he is quiet and

composed, and such quietness and composure are strong to win in the battle of life.

Insight is the gift of sympathy. The sympathetic mind is the profoundly perceiving mind. We

understand by experience, and not by argument. Before we can know a thing or being, our life must

touch its or his life. Argument analyzes the outer skin, but sympathy reaches to the heart. The cynic

sees the hat and coat, and thinks he sees the man. The sympathetic seer sees the man, and is not

concerned with the hat and coat. In all kinds of hatred there is a separation by which each misjudges the

other. In all kinds of love there is a mystic union by which each knows the other. Sympathy, being the

purest form of this the greatest poet because he has the largest heart. No other figure in all literature has

shown such a profound knowledge of the human heart, and of nature both animate and inanimate. The

personal Shakespeare is not to be found in his works; he is merged, by sympathy, into his characters.

The wise man and the philosopher; the madman and the fool; the drunkard and the harlot – these he, for

the time into their particular experiences and knew them better than they knew themselves.

Shakespeare has no partiality, no prejudice; his sympathy embraces all, from the lowest to the highest.

Prejudice is the great barrier to sympathy and knowledge. It is impossible to understand those against

whom one harbours a prejudice. We only see men and things as they are when we divest our minds of

partial judgements. We become seers as we become sympathizers. Sympathy has knowledge for her

companion.

Inseparable are the feeling heart and the seeing eye. The man of pity is the man of prophecy. He whose

heart beats in tune with all hearts, to him the contents of all hearts are revealed. Nor are past and future

any longer insoluble mysteries to the man of sympathy. His moral insight apprehends the perfect round

of human life.

Sympathetic insight lifts a man into the consciousness of freedom, gladness and power. His spirit

inhales joy as his lungs inhale air. There are no longer any fears of his fellow-men of competition, hard

times, enemies, and the like. These grovelling illusion have disappeared, and there has opened up

before his awakened vision a realm of greatness and grandeur.

7. Sixth pillar – Sincerity

Human society is held together by its sincerity. A universal falseness would beget a universal mistrust

which would bring about a universal separation, if not destruction. Life is made sane, wholesome, and

happy, by our deep rooted belief in one another. If we did not trust men, we could not transact business

with them, could not even associate with them. Shakespeare‘s ―Timon‖ shows us the wretched

condition of a man who, through his own folly, has lost all faith in the sincerity of human nature. He

cuts himself off from the company of all men, and finally commits suicide. Emerson has something to

the effect that if the trust system were withdrawn from commerce, society would fall to pieces; that

system being an indication of the universal confidence men place in each other. Business, commonly

supposed by the shortsighted and foolish to be all fraud and deception is based on a great trust – a trust

that men will meet and fulfil their obligations. Payment is not asked until the goods are delivered; and

the fact of the continuance of this system for ages, proves that most men do pay their debts, and have

no wish to avoid such payment.

Back of all its shortcomings, human society rests on a strong basis of truth. Its fundamental note in

sincerity. Its great leaders are all men of superlative sincerity; and their names and achievements are

not allowed to perish – a proof that the virtue of sincerity is admired by all the race.

It is easy for the insincere to imagine that everybody is like themselves, and to speak of the ―rottenness

of society‖, - though a rotten thing could endure age after age, for is not everything yellow to the

jaundiced eye? People who cannot see anything good in the constitution of human society, should

overhaul themselves. Their trouble is near home. They call good, evil. They have dwelt cynically and

peevishly on evil till they cannot see good, and everything and everybody appears evil. ―Society is

rotten from top to bottom‖, I heard a man say recently; and he asked me if I did not think so. I replied

that I should be sorry to think so; that while society had many blemishes, it was sound at the core, and

contained within itself the seeds of perfection.

Society, indeed is so sound that the man who is playing a part for the accomplishment of entirely

selfish ends cannot long prosper, and cannot fill any place as an influence. He is soon unmasked and

disagreed; and the fact that such a man can, for even a brief period, batten on human credulity, speaks

well for the trustfulness of men, if it reveals their lack of wisdom.

An accomplished actor on the stage is admired, but the designing actor on the stage of life brings

himself down to ignominy and contempt. In striving to appear what he is not, he becomes as one

having no individuality, no character, and he is deprived of all influence, all power, all success.

A man of profound sincerity is a great moral force, and there is no force – not even the highest

intellectual force – that can compare with it. Men are powerful in influence according to the soundness

and perfection of their sincerity. Morality and sincerity are so closely bound up together, that where

sincerity is lacking, morality, as a power, is lacking also, for insincerity undermines all the other

virtues, so that they crumble away and become of no account. Even a little insincerity robs a character

of all its nobility, and makes it common and contemptible. Falseness is so despicable a vice and no man

of moral weight can afford to dally with pretty complements, or play the fool with trivial and

howsoever light, in order to please, and he is no longer strong and admirable, but is become a shallow

weakling whose mind has no deep well of power from which men can draw, and no satisfying richness

to stir in them a worshipful regard.

Even they who are for the moment flattered with the painted lie, or pleased with the deftly woven

deception, will not escape those permanent under currents of influence which move the heart and shape

the judgement to fixed and final issues, while these designed delusions create but momentary ripples on

the surface of the mind.

―I am very pleased with his attentions,‖ said a woman of an acquaintance, ―but I would not marry him‖.

―Why not?‖ she was asked. ―He doesn‘t ring true‖, was the reply.

Ring true, a term full of meaning. It has reference to the coin which, when tested by its ring, emits a

sound which reveals the sterling metal throughout, without the admixture of any base material. It comes

up to the standard, and will pass anywhere and everywhere for its full value.

So with men. Their words and actions emit their own peculiar influence. There is in them an inaudible

sound which all other men inwardly hear and instinctively detect. They know the false ring from the

true, yet know not how they know. As the outer ear can make the most delicate distinctions in sounds,

so the inner ear can make equally subtle distinctions between souls. None are ultimately deceived but

the deceiver. It is the blind folly of the insincere that, while flattering themselves upon their successful

simulations, they are deceiving none but themselves. Their actions are laid bare before all hearts. There

is at the hear of man a tribunal whose judgements do not miscarry. If the senses faultlessly detect, shall

not the soul infallibly know! This inner infallibility is shown in the collective judgement of the race.

This judgement is perfect; so perfect than in literature, art, science, invention, religion – in every

department of knowledge – it divides the good from the bad, the worthy from the unworthy, the true

from the false, zealously guarding and preserving the former, and allowing the latter to perish. The

works, words, and deeds of great men are the heirlooms of the race, and the race is not careless of their

value. A thousand men write a book, and one only is a work of original genius, yet the race singles out

that one, elevates and preserves it, while it consigns the nine hundred and ninety nine copyists to

oblivion. Ten thousand men utter a sentence under a similar circumstance, and one only is a sentence of

divine wisdom, yet the race singles out that saying for the guidance of posterity, while the other

sentences are heard no more. It is true that the race slays its prophets, but even that slaying becomes a

test which reveals the true ring, and men detect its tureens. The slain one has come up to the standard,

and the deed of his slaying is preserved as furnishing infallible proof of his greatness.

As the counterfeit coin is detected, and cast back into the melting pot, while the sterling coin circulates

among all men, and is valued for its worth, so the counterfeit word, deed, or character is perceived, and

is left to fall back into the nothingness from which it emerged, a thing unreal, powerless, dead.

Spurious things have no value, whether they be bric-a-brac or men. We are ashamed of imitations that

try to pass for the genuine article. Falseness is cheap. The masquerader becomes a byword; he is less

than a man; he is a shadow, a spook, a mere mask. Trueness is valuable. The sound hearted man

becomes an exemplar; he is more than a man; he is a reality; a force, a moulding principle, by falseness

all is lost – even individuality dissolves for falseness is nonentity, nothingness. By trueness everything

is gained, for trueness is fixed, permanent, real.

It is all important that we be real; that we harbour no wish to appear other than what we are; that we

simulate no virtue, assume no excellency, adopt no disguise. The hypocrite thinks he can hood wink the

world and the eternal law of the world. There is but one person that he hoodwinks, and that is himself,

and for that the law of the world inflicts its righteous penalty. There is an old theory that the

excessively wicked are annihilated. I think to be a pretender is to come as near to annihilation as a man

can get, for there is a sense in which the man is gone, and in his place there is but a mirage of shams.

The hell of annihilation which so many dread, he has descended into; and to think that such a man can

prosper is to think that shadows can do the work of entities, and displace real men.

If any man thinks he can build up a successful career on pretences and appearances, let him pause

before sinking into the abyss of shadows; for in insincerity there is no solid ground, no substance, no

reality; there is nothing on which anything can stand, and no material with which to build; but there are

loneliness, poverty, shame, confusion, fears, suspicions, weeping, groaning, and lamentations; for if

there is one hell lower, darker, fouler than all others, it is the hell of insincerity.

Four beautiful traits adorn the mind of the sincere man; they are:-

1. Simplicity

2. Attractiveness

3. Penetration

4. Power

Simplicity is naturalness. It is simple being, without fake or foreign adornment. Why are all things in

nature so beautiful? Because they are natural. We see them as they are, no task they might wish to

appear, for in sooth they have no wish to appear, for in sooth they have no wish to appear otherwise.

There is no hypocrisy in the world of nature outside of human nature. The flower which is so beautiful

in all eyes would lose its beautify in all eyes would nature we look upon reality, and its beauty and

perfection gladden and amaze us. We cannot find anywhere a flaw, and are conscious of our incapacity

to improve upon anything, even to the most insignificant. Everything ha sits own peculiar perfection,

and shines in the beauty of unconscious simplicity.

One of the modern social cries is, ―Back to nature‖. It is generally understood to mean a cottage in the

country, and a piece of land to cultivate. It will be of little use to go into the country if we take our

shams with us; and any veneer which may cling to us can as well be washed off just where we are. It is

good that they who feel burdened with the conventions of society should fly to the country, and court

the quiet of nature, but it will fail if it by anything but a means to that inward redemption which will

restore us to the simple and the true.

But though humanity has wandered from the natural simplicity of the animal world, it is moving

towards a higher, a divine simplicity. Men of great genius are such because of their spontaneous

simplicity. They do not foreign; they are. Lesser minds study style and effect. They wish to cut a

striking figure on the stage of the world, and by that unholy wish they are doomed to mediocrity. Said a

man to me recently, ―I would give twenty years of my life to be able to write an immortal hymn.‖ With

such an ambition a man cannot write a hymn. He wants to pose. He is thinking of himself, of his own

glory. Before a man can writer an immortal hymn, or create any immortal work he must give, not

twenty years of his life to ambition but his can do anything great, and must sing, paint, write, out of ten

thousand bitter experiences, ten thousand failures, ten thousand conquests, ten thousand joys. He must

know Gethsemane; he must work with blood and tears.

Retaining his intellect and moral powers, and returning to simplicity, a man becomes great. He forfeits

nothing real. Only the shams are cast aside, revealing the standard gold of character. Where there is

sincerity there will always be simplicity – a simplicity of the kind that we see in nature, the beautiful

simplicity of truth.

Attractiveness is the direct outcome of simplicity. This is seen in the attractiveness of all natural

objects; to which we have referred, but in human nature it is manifested as personal influence. Of

recent years certain pseudomystics have been advertising to sell the secret of ―personal magnetism‖ for

so many dollars, by which they purport to show vain people how they can make themselves attractive

to others by certain ―occult‖ means as though attractiveness can be brought and sold, and put on and off

like powder and paint. Nor are people who are anxious to be thought attractive, likely to become so, for

their vanity is a barrier to it. The very desire to be thought attractive is, in itself, a deception, and it

leads to the practice of numerous deceptions. It infers, too, that such people are conscious of lacking

the genuine attractions and graces of character, and are on the look out for a substitute; but there is no

substitute for beauty of mind and strength of character. Attractiveness, like genius, is lost by being

coveted, and possessed by those who are too solid and sincere of character to desire it. There is nothing

in human nature – nor talent, nor intellect, nor affection, nor beauty of features that can compare in

attractive power with that soundness of mind and wholeness of heart which we call sincerity. There is a

perennial charm about a sincere man or woman, and they draw about themselves the best specimens of

human nature. There can be no personal charm apart from sincerity. Infatuation there may be, and is,

but this is a kind of disease, and is vastly different from the indissoluble bond by which sincere people

are attached. Infatuation ends in painful disillusion, but as there is nothing hidden between sincere

souls, and they stand upon that solid ground of reality, there is no illusion to be displayed.

Leaders among men attract by the power of their sincerity, and the measures of their sincerity is the

measure of their sincerity is the great may be a man‘s intellect he can never be a permanent leader and

guide of men unless he be sincere. For a time he may sail jauntily upon the stream of popularity, and

believe himself secure, but it is only that he may shortly fall the lower in popular odium. He cannot

long deceive the people with his painted front. They will soon look behind, and find of what spurious

stuff he is made. He is like a woman with a painted face. She thinks she is admired for her complexion,

but all know it is paint, and despise her for it. she has one admirer – herself, and the hell of limitation to

which all the insincere commit themselves is the hell of self admiration.

Sincere people do not think of themselves, of their talent, their genius, their virtue, their beautify and

because they are so unconscious of themselves, they attract all, and win their confidence, affection, and

esteem.

Penetration belongs to the sincere. All shams are unveiled in their presence. All simulators are

transparent to the searching eye of the sincere man. With one clear glance he sees through all their

flimsy pretences. Tricksters with under his strong gaze, and want to get away from it. He who has rid

his heart of all falseness, and entertains only that which is true, has gained the power to distinguish the

false from the true in others. He is not deceived who is not self deceived.

As men, looking around on the objects of nature, infallibly distinguish them such as a snake, a bird, a

horse, a tree, a rose, and so on – so the sincere man distinguishes between the variety of characters. He

perceives in a movement, a look, a word, an act, the nature of the man, and acts accordingly. He is on

his guard without being suspicious. He is prepared for the pretender without being mistrustful. He acts

from positive knowledge, and not from negative suspicion. Men are open to him, and he reads their

contents. His penetrative judgement pierces to the centre of actions. His direct and unequivocal conduct

strengthens in others the good, and shames the bad, and he is a staff of strength to those who have not

yet attained to his soundness of heart and head.

Power goes with penetration. An understanding of the nature of actions is accompanied with the power

to meet and deal with all actions in the right and best way. Knowledge is always power, but knowledge

of the nature of actions is superlative power, and he who possesses it becomes a Presence to all hearts,

and modifies their actions for good. Long after his bodily presence has passed away, he is still a

moulding force in the world and is a spiritual reality working subtly in the minds of men, and shaping

them towards sublime ends. At first his power local and limited, but the circle of righteousness which

he has set moving, continues to extend and extended till it embraces the whole world, and all men are

influenced by it.

The sincere man stamps his character upon all that he does, and also upon all people with whom he

comes in contact. He speaks a word in season, and some one is impressed; the influence is

communicated to another, and another, and presently some despairing soul ten thousand miles away

hears it and is restored. Such a power is prosperity in itself, and its worth is not to be valued in coin.

Money cannot purchase the priceless jewels of character, but labour in right doing can, and he who

makes himself sincere, who acquires a robust soundness throughout his entire being, will become a

man of singular success and rare power.

Such is the strong pillar of sincerity. It supporting power is to great that, one it is completely erected,

the Temple of Prosperity is secure. Its walls will not crumble; its rafters will not decay; its roof will not

fall in. It will stand while the man lives, and when has passed away it will continue to afford a shelter

and a home for others through many generation.

8. Seventh pillar – Impartiality

To get rid of prejudice is a great achievement. Prejudices piles obstacles in a man‘s way – obstacles to

health, success, happiness, and prosperity, so that he is continually running up against imaginary

enemies, who, when prejudice is removed, are seen to be friend. Life, indeed, a sort of obstacle race to

the man of prejudice, a race wherein the obstacles cannot be negotiated and the goal is not reached;

whereas to the impartial man life is a day‘s walk in a pleasant country, with refreshment and rest at the

end of the day.

To acquire impartiality, a man must remove that innate egotism which prevents him from seeing any

thing from any point of view other than this own. A great task, truly; but a notable, and one that can be

well begun now, even if it cannot be finished. Truth can ―remove mountains‖, and prejudice is a range

of mental mountains beyond which the partisan does not see, and of which he does not believe there is

any beyond. These mountains removed, however, there opens to the view the unending vista of mental

variety blended in one glorious picture of light and shade, of colour and tone, gladdening beholding

eyes.

By clinging to stubborn prejudice what joys are missed, what friends are sacrificed, what happiness is

destroyed, and what prospects are blighted! And yet freedom from prejudice is a rare thing. There are

few men who are not prejudiced partisans upon the subjects which are of interest to them. One rarely

meets a man that will dispassionately discuss his subject from both sides, considering all the facts and

weighing all the evidence so as to arrive at truth on the matter. Each partisan has his own case to make

out. He is not searching for truth, for he is already convinced that his own conclusion is the truth, and

that all else is error; but he is defending his own case, and striving for victory. Neither does he attempt

to prove that he has the truth by a calm array of facts and evidence, but defends his position with more

or less heat and agitation.

Prejudice causes a man to form a conclusion, sometimes without any basis of fact or knowledge, and

then to refuse to consider anything which does not support that conclusion; and in this way prejudice is

a complete barrier to the attainment of knowledge. It binds a man down to darkness and ignorance, and

prevents the development of his mind in the highest and noblest directions. More than this, it also shuts

him out from communion with the best minds, and confines him to the dark and solitary cell of his own

egotism.

Prejudice is a shutting up of the mind against the entrance of new light, against the perception of more

beauty, against the hearing of diviner music. The partisan clings to his little, fleeting, flimsy opinion,

and thinks it the greatest thing in the world. He is so in love with his own conclusion (which is only a

form of self love), that he thinks all men ought to agree with him, and he regards men as more or less

stupid who do not see as he sees, while he praises the good judgement of those who are one with him in

his view. Such a man cannot have knowledge, cannot have truth. He is confined to the sphere of

opinion (to his own self created illusions) which is outside the realm of reality. He moves in a kind of

self infatuation which prevents him from seeing the commonest facts of life, while his own theories –

usually more or less groundless – assume, in his mind, overpowering proportions. He fondly imagines

that there is but one side to everything, and that side is his own. There are at least two sides to

everything, and he it is who finds the truth in a matter who carefully examines both sides with all

freedom from excitement, and without any desire for the predominance of one side over another.

In its divisions and controversies the world at large is like two lawyers defending a case. The counsel

for the prosecution presents all the facts which prove his side, while counsel for the defense presents all

the facts which support his contention, and each belittles or ignores, or tries to reason away, the facts of

the other. The Judge in the case, however, is like the impartial thinker among men: having listened to

all the evidence on both sides, he compares and sifts it so as to form an impartial summing up in the

cause of justice.

Not that this universal partiality is a bad thing, nor as in all other extremes, nature here reduces the

oppositions of conflicting parties to a perfect balance; moreover, it is a factor in evolution; it stimulates

men to think who have not yet developed the power to rouse up vigorous thought at will, and it is a

phase through which all men have to pass. But it is only byway – and a tangled, confused and painful

one – towards the great highway of Truth. It is the are of which impartiality is the perfect round. The

partisan sees a portion of the truth, and thinks it the whole, but the impartial thinker sees the whole

truth which includes all sides. It is necessary that we find see truth in sections, as it were, until, having

gathered up all the parts, we may piece them together and form the perfect circle, and the forming of

such circle is the attainment of impartiality.

The impartial man examines, weighs, and considers, with freedom from prejudice and from likes and

dislikes. His one wish is to discover the truth. He abolishes preconceived opinions, and lets facts and

evidence speak for themselves. He has no case to make out for himself, for he knows that truth is

unalterable, that his opinions can make no difference to it, and that it can be investigated and

discovered. He thereby escapes a vast amount of friction and nervous wear and tear to which the

feverish partisan is subject; and in addition, he looks directly upon the face of Reality, and so becomes

tranquil and peaceful.

So rare is freedom from prejudice that wherever the impartial thinker may be, he is sure, sooner or

later, to occupy a very high position in the estimation of the world, and in the guidance of its destiny.

Not necessarily an office in worldly affairs, for that is improbable, but an exalted position in the sphere

of influence. There may be such a one now, and he may be a carpenter, a weaver, a clerk; he may be in

poverty or in the home of a millionaire; he may be short or tall, or of any complexion, but whatever and

wherever he may be, he has, though unknown, already begun to move the world, and will one day be

universally recognized at a new force and creative centre in evolution.

There was one such some nineteen hundred years ago. He was only a poor, unlettered carpenter; He

was regarded as a madman by His own relatives, and he came to an ignominious end in the eyes of His

countrymen, but He sowed the seeds of an influence which has altered the whole world.

There was another such in India some twenty five centuries ago. He was accomplished, highly

educated, and was the son of a capitalist and landed proprietor a petty king. He became a penniless,

homeless mendicant, and to day one third of the human race worship at his shrine, and are restrained

and elevated by his influence.

―Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this plane,‖ says Emerson; and a man is not a

thinker who is bound by prejudice; he is merely the strenuous upholder of an opinion. Every idea must

pass through the medium of his particular prejudice, and receive its colour, so that dispassionate

thinking and impartial judgement are rendered impossible. Such a man sees everything only in its

relation, or imagined relation, to his opinion, whereas the thinker sees things as they are. The man who

has so purified his mind of prejudice and of all the imperfections of egotism as to be able to look

directly upon reality, has reached the acme of power; he holds in his hands, as it were, the vastest

influence, and he will wield this power whether he knows it or not; it will be inseparable from his life,

and will go from him as perfume from the flower. It will be in his words, his deeds, in his bodily

postures and the motions of his mind, even in his silence and the stillness of his frame. Wherever he

goes, even though he should fly to the desert, he will not escape this lofty destiny, for a great thinker is

the centre of the world; by him all men are held in their orbits and all thought gravitates towards him.

The true thinker lives above and beyond the seething whirlpool of passion in which mankind is

engulfed. He is not swayed by personal consideration, for he has grasped the importance of impersonal

principles, and being thus a noncombatant in the clashing warfare of egotistic desires, he can, from the

vantage ground of an impartial but not indifferent watcher, see both sides equally, and grasp the cause

and meaning of the fray.

Not only the Great Teachers, but the greatest figures in literature, are those who are free from prejudice,

who, like true mirrors, effect things impartially. Such are Whitman, Shakespeare, Balzac, Emerson,

Homer. These minds are not local, but universal. Their attitude is cosmic and not personal.

They contain within themselves all things and beings all worlds and laws. They are the gods who guide

the race, and who will bring it at last out of its fever of passion into their own serene land.

The true thinker is the greatest of men, and his destiny is the most exalted. The altogether impartial

mind has reached the divine, and it basks in the full daylight of Reality.

The four great elements of impartiality are

1. Justice

2. Patience

3. Calmness

4. Wisdom

Justice is the giving and receiving of equal values. What is called ―striking a hard bargain‖ is a kind of

theft. It means that the purchaser gives value for only a portion of his purchase, the remainder being

appropriated as clear gain. The seller also encourages it by closing the bargain.

The just man does not try to gain an advantage; he considers the true values of things, and moulds his

transactions in accordance therewith. He does not let ―what will pay‖ come before ―what is right‖, for

he knows that the right pays best in the end. He does not seek his own benefit to the disadvantage of

another, for he knows that a just action benefits, equally and fully, both parties to a transaction. If ―one

man‘s loss is another man‘s gain,‖ it is only that the balance may be adjusted later on. Unjust gains

cannot lead to prosperity, but are sure to bring failure. A just man could no more take from another an

unjust gain by what is called a ―smart transaction‖ that he could take it by picking his pocket. He would

regard the one as dishonest as the other.

The bargaining spirit in business is not the true spirit of commerce. It is the selfish and thieving spirit

which wants to get something for nothing. The upright man purges his business of all bargaining, and

builds it one the more dignified basis of justice. He supplies ―a good article‖ at its right price, and does

not alter. He does not soil his hands with any business which is tainted with fraud. His goods are

genuine and they are properly priced.

Customers who try to ―beat down‖ a tradesman in their purchases are degrading themselves. Their

practice assumes one or both of two things, namely, that either the tradesman is dishonest and is

overcharging (a low, suspicious attitude of mind), or that they are eager to cajole him out of his profit

(an equally base attitude), and so benefit by his loss. The practice of ―bearing down‖ is altogether a

dishonest one, and the people who pursue it most assiduously are those who complain most of being

―imposed on‖ and this is not surprising, seeing that they themselves are all the time trying to impose

upon others.

On the other hand, the tradesman who is anxious to get all he can out of his customers, irrespective of

justice and the right values of things, is a kind of robber, and is slowly poisoning his success, for his

deeds will assuredly come home to him in the form of financial ruin.

Said a man of fifty to me other day, ―I have just discovered that all my life I have been paying fifty

percent, more for everything than I ought to.‖ A just man cannot feel that he has ever paid too much for

anything, for he does not close with any transaction which he considers unjust; but if a man is eager to

get everything at half price, them he will be always meanly and miserably mourning that he is paying

double for everything. The just man is glad to pay full value for everything, whether in giving or

receiving and his mind is untroubled and his days are full of peace.

Let a man above all avoid meanness, and strive to be ever more and more perfectly just, for if not just,

he can be neither honest, nor generous, nor manly, but is a kind of disguised thief trying to get all he

can, and give back as little as possible. Et him eschew all bargaining, and teach bargainers a better way

by conducting his business with that exalted dignity which commands a large and meritorious success.

Patience is the brightest jewel in the character of the impartial man. Not a particular patience with a

particular thing – like a girl with her needlework, or a boy building his toy engine but on unswerving

considerateness, a sweetness of disposition at all times and under the most trying circumstances, an

unchangeable and gentle strength which no trial can mar and no persecution can break. A rare

possession, it is true, and one not to be expected for a long time yet from the bulk of mankind, but a

virtue that can be reached by degree, and even a partial patience will work wonders in a man‘s life and

affairs, as a confirmed impatience all work devastation. The irascible man is courting speedy disaster,

for who will care to deal with a man who continually going off like ground powder when some small

spark of complaint or criticism falls upon him! Even his friends will one by one desert him, for who

would court the company of a man who rudely assaults him with an impatient and fiery tongue over

every little difference or misunderstanding.

A man must begin to wisely control himself, and to learn the beautiful lessons of patience, if he is to be

highly prosperous, if he is to be a man of use and power. He must learn to think of others, to act for

their good, and not alone for himself; to be considerate, for bearing, and long suffering. He must study

how to have a heart at peace with men who differ from him on those things which he regards as most

vital. He must avoid quarrelling as he would avoid drinking a deadly poison. Discords from without

will be continually overtaking him, but he must fortify himself against them; he must study how to

bring harmonies out of them by the exercise of patience.

Strife is common: it pains the heart and distorts the mind. Patience is rare, it enriches the heart and

beautifies the mind. Every cat can spit and fume; it requires no effort, but only a looseness of behavior.

It takes a man to keep his mornings through all events, and to be painstaking and patient with the

shortcomings of humanity. But patience wins. As soft water wears away the hardest rock, so patience

overcomes all opposition. It gains the hearts of men. It conquers and controls.

Calmness accompanies patience. It is a great and glorious quality. It is the peaceful haven of

emancipated souls after their long wanderings on the tempest riven ocean of passion. It makes the man

who has suffered much, endured much, experienced much, and has finally conquered.

A man cannot be impartial who is not calm. Excitement, prejudice, and partiality spring from disturbed

passions. When personal feeling is thwarted, it rises and seethes like a stream of water that is dammed.

The calm man avoids this disturbance by directing his feeling from the personal to the impersonal

channel. He thinks and feels for others as well as for himself. He sets the same value on other men‘s

opinions as on his own. If he regards his on work as important, he sees also that the work of other men

is equally important. He does not content for the merit of his own against the demerit of that of others.

He is not overthrown, like Humptydumpty, with a sense of self importance. He has put aside egotism

for truth, and he perceives the right relations of things. He has conquered irritability, and has come to

see that there is nothing in itself that should cause irritation. As well be irritable with a pansy because it

is not a rose, as a with a man because he does not see as you see. Minds differ, and the calm man

recognizes the differences as facts in human nature.

The calm, impartial man, is not only the happiest man, he also has all his powers at his command. He is

sure, deliberate, executive, and swiftly and easily accomplishes in silence what the irritable men slowly

and laboriously toils through with much nice. His mind is purified, poised, concentrated, and is ready at

any moment to be directed upon a given work with unerring power. In the calm mind all contradictions

are reconciled, and there is radiant gladness and perpetual peace. As Emerson puts it: ―Calmness is joy

fixed and habitual‖.

One should not confound indifference with calmness, for it is at the opposite extreme. Indifference is

lifelines, while calmness is glowing life and full orbed power. The calm man has partly or entirely

conquered self, and having successfully battled with the selfishness within, he knows how to meet and

overcome it successfully in others. In any moral content the calm man is always the victor. So long as

he remains calm, defeat is impossible.

Self control is better than riches and calmness is a perpetual benediction.

Wisdom abides with the impartial man. Her counsels guide him; her wings shield him; she leads him

along pleasant ways to happy destinations.

Wisdom is many sided. The wise man adapts himself to others. He acts for their good, yet never

violates the moral virtues or the principles of right conduct. The foolish man cannot adapt himself to

others; he acts for himself only, and continually violates the moral virtues and the principles of right

conduct. There is a degree of wisdom in every act of impartiality, and once a man has touched and

experience the impartial zone, he can recover it again and again until he finally establishes himself in it.

Every thought, word, and act of wisdom tells on the world at large, for it is fraught with greatness.

Wisdom is a well of knowledge and a spring of power. It is profound and comprehensive, and is so

exact and all inclusive as to embrace the smallest details. In its spacious greatness it does not overlook

the small. The wise mind is like the world, it contains all things in their proper place and order, and is

not burdened thereby. Like the world also, it is free, and unconscious of any restrictions; yet it is never

loose, never erring, never sinful and repentant. Wisdom is the steady, grown up being of whom folly

was the crying infant. It was outgrown the weakness and dependence, the errors and punishments of

infantile ignorance, and is erect, poised, strong, and serene.

The understanding mind needs no external support. It stands of itself on the firm ground of knowledge;

not book-knowledge, but ripened experience. It has passed through all minds, and therefore knows

them. It has traveled with all hearts, and knows their journeying in joy and sorrow.

When wisdom touches a man, he is lifted up and transfigured. He becomes a new being with new aims

and powers, and he inhabits a new universe in which to accomplish a new and glorious destiny.

Such is the Pillar of impartiality which adds its massive strength and incomparable grace to support and

beautify the Temple of Prosperity.

9. Eighth pillar – Self-reliance

Every young man ought to read Emerson‘s essay on ‗Self Reliance‘. It is the manliest, most virile essay

that was ever penned. It is calculated to cure alike those two mental maladies common to youth,

namely, self depreciation and self conceit. It is almost as sure to reveal to the prig the smallness and

emptiness of his vanity, as it is to show the bashful man the weakness and ineffectuality of his

dividence. It is a new revelation of manly dignity; as much a revelation as any that was vouchsafed to

ancient seer and prophet, and perhaps a more practical, eminently suited to his mechanic age, coming,

as it does from a modern prophet of a new type and called in a new race, and its chief merit is its

powerfully tonic quality.

Let not self-reliance be confounded with self conceit, for as high and excellent as is the one, just so low

and worthless is other. There cannot be anything mean in self reliance, while in self conceit there

cannot be anything great.

The man that never says ―no‖ when questioned on subjects of which he is entirely ignorant, to avoid, as

he imagines, being thought ignorant, but confidently puts forward guesses and assumptions as

knowledge, will be known for his ignorance, and ill esteemed for his added conceit. An honest

confession of ignorance will command respect where a conceited assumption of knowledge will elicit

contempt.

The timid, apologetic man who seems almost afraid to live, who fears that he will do something not in

the approved way, and will subject himself to ridicule, is not a full man. He must needs imitate others,

and have no independent action. He needs that self reliance which will compel him to fall back on his

own initiative, and so become a new example instead of the slavish follower of an old one. As for

ridicule he who is hurt by it is no man. The shafts or mockery and sarcasm cannot pierce the strong

armour of the self reliant man. They cannot reach the invincible citadel of his honest heart to sting or

wound it. The sharp arrows of irony may rain upon him, but he laughs as they are deflected by the

strong breast plate of his confidence, and fall harmless about him.

―Trust thyself‖, says Emerson, ‗every heart vibrates to that iron string‖. Throughout the ages men have

so far leaned, and do still lean, upon external makeshifts instead of standing upon their own native

simplicity and original dignity. The few who have had the courage to so stand, have been singled out

and elevated as heroes; and he is indeed the true hero who has the hardihood to let his nature speak for

itself, who has that strong metal which enables him to stand upon his own intrinsic worth.

It is true that the candidate for such heroism must endure the test of strength. He must not be shamed

from his ground by the bugbears of an initiate conventionalist. He must not fear for his reputation or

position, or for his standing in the church or his prestige in local society. He must learn to act and live

as independently of these consideration as he does of the current fashions in the antipodes. Yet when he

has endured this test, and stander and odium have failed to move or afflict him, he has become a man

indeed, one that society will have to reckon with, and finally accept on his own terms.

Sooner or later all men will turn or guidance to the self reliant man, and while the best minds do not

make a prop of him, they respect and value his work and worth, and recognize his place among the

goods that have gone before.

It must not be thought an indication of self reliance to scorn to learn. Such an attitude is born of a

stubborn superciliousness which has the elements of weakness, and is prophetic of a fall, rather than the

elements of strength and the promise of high achievement which are characteristic of self – reliance.

Pride and vanity must not be associated with self rests upon incidentals and appurtenances – on money,

clothing, property, prestige, position and these lost, all is lost. Self reliance rests upon essentials and

principles on worth, probity, purity, sincerity, character, truth and whatever may be lost is of little

account, for these are never lost. Pride tries to hide its ignorance by ostentation and assumption, and is

unwilling to be thought a learner in any direction. It stands, during its little fleeting day, on ignorance

and appearance, and the higher it is lifted up today the lower it will be cast down tomorrow. Self

reliance has nothing to hide, and is willing to learn; and while there can be no humility where pride is,

self reliance and humility are compatible, nay more, they are complementary, and the sublimes form of

self reliance is only found associated with the profoundest humility. ―Extremes meet‖ says Emerson

―and there is no better example than the haughtiness of humility. No aristocrat, no prince born to the

purple, can begin to compare with the self respect of the saint. Why is he so lowly, but that he knows

that he can well afford it, resting on the largeness of God in him?‖ It was Buddha who, I this particular,

said; - ―Those who, either now or after I am dead, shall be a lamp unto themselves, relying upon them

selves only and not relying upon any external help, but holding fast to the truth as their lamp, and

seeking their salvation in the truth alone, shall not look for assistance to any one beside themselves, it is

they, among my disciples, who shall reach the very top mist height. But they must be willing to learn‖.

In this saying, the repeated insistence on the necessity for relying upon one‘s self alone, coupled with

the final exhortation to be eager to learn, is the wisest utterance on self reliance that I know. In it, the

Great Teacher comprehends that perfect balance between self trust and humility which the man of truth

must acquire.

―Self – trust is the essence of heroism‖. All great men are self reliant, and we should use them as

teachers and exemplars and not as props and perambulators. A great man comes who leans upon no

one, but stands alone in the solitary dignity of truth, and straightway the world begins to lean upon him,

begins to make him an excuse for spiritual indolence and a destructive self-abasement. Better than

cradling our vices in the strength of the great would it be to newly light our virtues at their luminous

lamp. If we rely upon the light of another, darkness will over take us, but if we rely upon our own light

we have but to keep it burning. We may both draw light from another and communicate it, but to think

it sufficient while our own lamp is rusting in neglect, is shortly to find ourselves abandoned in

darkness. Our own inner light is the light which never fails us.

What is the ―inner light‖ of the Quakers but another name for self reliance? We should stand upon what

we are, not upon what another is. ―But I am so small and poor‖, you say: well, stand upon that

smallness, and presently it will become great. A babe must needs suckle and cling, but not so man.

Henceforth he goes upon his own limbs. Men pray to God to put into their hands that which they are

framed to reach out for; to put into their mouth the food for which they should strenuously labour. But

men will outgrow this spiritual infancy. The time will come when men will no more pay a priest to pray

for them and preach to them.

Man‘s chief trouble is a mistrust of himself, so that the self trusting man becomes a rare and singular

spectacle. If a man look upon himself as a ―worm‖, what can come out of him but an ineffectual

wriggling. Truly, ―He that humbleth shall be exalted,‖ but not he that degardeth himself. A man should

see himself as he is, and if there is any unworthiness in him, he should get rid of it, and retain and rely

upon that which is of worth. A man is only debased when he debases himself; he is exalted when he

lives an exalted life.

Why should a man, with ceaseless iterations, draw attention to his fallen nature? There is a false

humility which takes a sort of pride in vice. If one has fallen, it is that he may rise and be the wiser for

it. if a man falls into a ditch, he does not lie there and call upon every passer by to mark his fallen state,

he gets up and goes on his way with greater care. So if one has fallen into the ditch of vice, let him rise

and be cleansed, and go on his way rejoicing.

There is not a sphere in life wherein a man‘s influence and prosperity will not be considerably

increased by even a measure of self reliance, and to the teacher – whether secular or religious to

organizers, managers, overseers, and in all positions of control and command, it is an indispensable

equipment.

The four grand qualities of self reliance are:-

1. Decision

2. Steadfastness

3. Dignity

4. Independence

Decision makes a man strong. The wearer is the weakling. A man who is to play a speaking part,

however small, in the drama of life must be decisive and know what he is about. Whatever he doubts,

he must not doubt his power to act. He must know his part in life, and put all his energy into it. He must

have some solid ground of knowledge from which to work, and stand securely on that. It may be only

the price and quality of stock, but he must know his work thoroughly, and know that he knows it. he

must be ready at any time to answer for himself when his duty is impugned. He should be so well

grounded upon his particular practice as not to be affected with hesitation on any point or in any

emergence. It is a true saying that ―the man that hesitates is lost‖. No one believes in him who does not

believe in himself, who doubts, halts, and wavers, and cannot extricate himself from the tangled threads

of two courses. Who would deal with a tradesman who did not know the price of his own goods, or was

not sure where to find them? A man must know his business. If he does not know his own, who shall

instruct him? He must be able to give a good report of the truth that is in him, must have that deceive

touch which skill and knowledge only can impart.

Certainty is a great element in self reliance. To have weight, a man must have some truth to impart, and

all skill is a communication of truth. He must ―speak with authority, and not as the scribes‖. He must

master something, and know that he has mastered it, so as to deal with it lucidly and understandingly,

in the way of a master, and not to remain always an apprentice.

Indecision is a disintegrating factor. A minute‘s faltering may turn back the current of success. Men

who are afraid to decide quickly for fear of making a mistake, nearly always makes a mistake when

they do act. The quickest, in thought and action, are less liable to blunder, and it is better to act with

decision and make a mistake than to act with indecision and make a mistake than to act with indecision

and make a mistake, for in the former case there is but error, but in the latter, weakness is added to

error.

A man should be decided always, both where he knows and where he does not know. He should be as

ready to say ―no‖ as ―yes‖, as quick to acknowledge his ignorance as to impart his knowledge. If he

stands upon fact, and acts from the simple truth, he will find no room for halting between two opinions.

Make up your mind quickly, and act decisively. Better still, have a mind that is already made up and

then decision will be instinctive and spontaneous.

Steadfastness arises in the mind that is quick to decide. It is indeed a final decision upon the best course

of conduct and the best path in life. It is the vow of the soul to stand firmly by its principles whatever

betide. It is neither necessary nor unnecessary that there by any written or spoken vow, for unswerving

loyalty to a fixed principle is the spirit of all vows.

The man without fixed principles will not accomplish much. Expediency is a quagmire and a thorny

waste, in which a man is continually sticking in the shifting mud of his own moral looseness, and is

pricked and scratched with the thorns of his self created disappointments.

One must have some solid ground on which to stand among one‘s fellows. He cannot stand on the bog

of concession. Shiftiness is a vice of weakness, and the vices of weakness do more to undermine

character and influence than the vices of strength. The man that is vicious through excess of animal

strength takes a shorter cut to truth – when his mind is made up that he who is vicious through lack of

virility, and whose chief vice consists in not having a mind of his own upon anything. When one

understands that power is adaptable to both good and bad ends, it will not surprise him that the

drunkards and harlots should reach the kingdom of heaven before the diplomatic religionists. They are

at least through in the course which they have adopted, vile though it be, and thoroughness is strength.

It only needs that strength to be turned from bad to good, and lo! The loathed sinner has become the

lofty saint!

A man should have a firm, fixed, determined mind. He should decide upon those principles which are

best to stand by in all issues, and which will most safely guide him through the maze of conflicting

opinions, and inspire him with unflinching courage in the battle of life. Having adopted his principles,

they should be more to him than gain or happiness, more even than life itself, and if he never deserts

them he will find that they will never desert him; they will defend him from all enemies, deliver him

safely from all dangers, light up his pathway through all darkness and difficulties. They will be to him a

light in darkness, a resting place from sorrow, and a refuge from the conflicts of the world.

Dignity clothes, as with a majestic garment, the steadfast mind. He who is as unyielding as a bar of

steel when he is expected to compromise with evil, and as supple as a willow wand in adapting himself

to that which is good, carries about with him a dignity that calms and uplifts others by its presence.

The unsteady mind, the mind that is not anchored to any fixed principles, that is stubborn where its own

desires are threatened, and yielding where its own moral welfare is at stake, has no gravity, no balance,

no calm composure.

The man of dignity cannot be down-trodden and enslaved, because he has ceased to tread upon and

enslave himself. He at once disarms, with a look, a word, a wise and suggestive silence, any attempt to

demean him. His mere presence is a wholesome reproof to the flippant and the unseemly, while it is a

rock of strength to the lover of the good.

But the chief reason why the dignified man commands respect is, not only that he is supremely self

respecting, but that he graciously treats all others with a due esteem. Pride loves itself, and treats those

beneath it with supercilious contempt, for love of self and contempt for others are always found

together in equal degrees, so that the greater the self love, the greater the arrogance. True dignity arises,

not from self love, but from self sacrifice that is, from unbiased adherence to a fixed central principle.

The dignity of the Judge arises from the fact that in the performance of his duty he sets aside all

personal consideration, and stands solely upon the law; his little personality, impermanent and fleeting‘

becomes nothing, while the law, enduring and majestic, becomes all. Should a Judge, in deciding a

case, forget the law, and fall into personal feeling and prejudice, his dignity would be gone. So with the

man of stately purity of character, he stands upon the divine law, and not upon personal feeling, for

immediately a man gives way to passion he has sacrificed dignity, and takes his place as one of the

multitude of the unwise and uncontrolled.

Every man will have composure and dignity in the measure that he acts from a fixed principle. It only

needs that the principle be right, and therefore unassailable. So long as man abides by such a principle,

and does not waver or descend into the personal element, attacking passions, prejudices and interests,

however powerful, will be weak and ineffectual before the unconquerable strength of an incorruptible

principle, and will at last yield their combined and unseemly confusion to his single and majestic right.

Independence is the birthright of the strong and well controlled man. All men love and strive for liberty.

All men aspire to some sort of freedom.

A man should labour for himself or for the community. Unless he is a cripple, a chronic invalid, or is

mentally irresponsible, he should be ashamed to depend upon others for all he has, giving nothing in

return. If one imagines that such a condition is freedom, let him know that it is one of the lowest forms

of slavery. The time will come when, to be a drone in the human hive, even (as matters are now) a

respectable drone and not a poor tramp, will be a public disgrace, and will be no longer respectable.

Independence, freedom, glorious liberty, come through labour and not from idleness, and the self

reliant man is too strong, too honourable, too upright to depend upon others, like a sucking babe, for his

support. He earns, with hand or brain, the right to live as becomes a man and a citizen; and this he does

whether born rich or poor, for riches are no excuse for idleness; rather are they an opportunity to

labour, with the rare facilities which they afford, for the good of the community.

Only he who is self supporting is free, self reliant, independent.

Thus is the nature of the Eight Pillars explained. On what foundation they rest, the manner of their

building, their ingredients, the fourfold nature of the material of which each is composed, what

positions they occupy, and how they support the Temple, all may now build; and he who knew but

imperfectly may know more perfectly; and he who knew perfectly may rejoice in this systematization

and simplification of the moral order in Prosperity. Let us now consider the Temple itself, that we may

know the might of its Pillars, the strength of its walls, the endurance of its roof, and the architectural

beauty and perfection of the whole.

10. The temple of prosperity

The reader who has followed the course of this book with a view to obtaining information on the details

of money making, business transactions, profit and loss in various undertakings, prices, markets,

agreements, contracts, and other matters connected with the achievement of prosperity, will have noted

an entire absence of any instruction on these matters of detail. The reason for this is fourfold, namely:-

First. Details cannot stand alone, but are powerless to build up anything unless intelligently related to

principles.

Second. Details are infinite, and are ceaselessly changing, while principles are few, and are eternal and

unchangeable.

Third. Principles are the coherent factors in all details, regulating and harmonizing them, so that to have

right principles is to be right in all the subsidiary details.

Fourth. A teacher of truth in any direction must adhere rigidly to principles, and must not allow himself

to be drawn away from them into the ever-changing maze of private particulars and personal details,

because such particulars and details have only a local right, and are only necessary for certain

individuals, while principles are universally right and are necessary for all men.

He who grasps the principles of this book so as to be able to intelligently practice them, will be able to

reach the heart of this fourfold reason. The details of a man‘s affairs are important, but they are his

details or the details of his particular branch of industry, and all outside that branch are not concerned

with them, but moral principles are the same for all men; they are applicable to all conditions, and

govern all particulars.

The man who works from fixed principles does not need to harass himself over the complications of

numerous details. He will grasp, as it were, the entire details in one single thought, and will see them

through and through, illumined by the light of the principle to which they stand related, and this

without friction, and with freedom from anxiety and strain.

Until principles are grasped, details are regarded, and dealt with, as primary matters, and so viewed

they lead to innumerable complications and confused issues. In the light of principles, they are seen to

be secondary facts, and so seen, all difficulties connected with them are at once overcome and annulled

by a reference to principles.

He who is involved in numerous details without the regulating and synthesizing element of principles is

like one lost in a forest, with no direct path along which to walk amid the mass of objects. He is

swelled up by the details, while the man of principles contains all details within himself; he stands

outside them, as it were, and grasps them in their entirety, while the other man can only see the few that

are nearest to him at the time.

All things are contained in principles. They are the laws of things, and all things observe their own law.

It is an error to view things apart from their nature. Details are the letter of which principles are the

spirit. It is as true in art, science, literature, commerce, as in religion, that ―the letter killeth, the spirit of

giveth life.‖ The body of a man, with its wonderful combination of parts, is important, but only in its

relation to the spirit. The spirit being withdrawn, the body is useless and is put away. The body of a

business, with all its complicated details is important, but only in its relation to the vivifying principles

by which it is controlled. These withdrawn, the business will perish.

To have the body of prosperity – its material presentation – we must first have the spirit of prosperity,

and the spirit of prosperity is the quick spirit of moral virtue. Moral blindness prevails. Men see money,

property, pleasure, leisure, etc., and, mistaking them for prosperity, strive to get them for their own

enjoyment, but, when obtained, they find no enjoyment in them.

Prosperity is at first a spirit, an attitude of mind, a moral power, a life, which manifests outwardly in the

form of plenty, happiness, joy. Just as a man cannot become a genius by writing poems, essay as plays,

but must develop and acquire the soul of genius – when the writing will follow as effect to cause-so

one cannot become prosperous by hoarding up money, and by gaining property and possessions, but

must develop and acquire the soul of virtue, when the material accessories will follow as effect to

cause, for the spirit of virtue is the spirit of joy, and it contains within itself all abundance, all

satisfaction, all fullness of life.

There is no joy in money, there is no joy in property, there is no joy in material accumulations or in any

material things of itself. These things are dead and lifeless. The spirit of joy must be in the man or it is

nowhere. He must have within him the capacity for happiness. He must have the wisdom to know how

to use these things, and not merely hoard them. He must possess them, and not be possessed by them.

They must be dependent upon him, and not he upon them. They must be dependent upon him, and not

he upon them. They must follow him, and not be for ever be running after them; and they will

inevitably follow him, if he has the moral elements within to which they are related.

Nothing is absent from the Kingdom of heaven; it contains all good, true, and necessary things, and

―the Kingdom of God is within you.‖ I know rich people who are supremely happy, because they are

generous, magnanimous, pure and joyful; but I also know rich people who are very miserable, and

these are they who looked to money and possessions for their happiness, and have not developed the

spirit of good and of joy within themselves.

How can it be said of a wretched man that he is ―prosperous‖, even if his income be ten thousand

pounds a year? There must be fitness, and harmony, and satisfaction in a true prosperity. When a rich

man is happy, it is that he brought the spirit of happiness to his riches, and not that the riches brought

happiness to him. He is a full man with full material advantages and responsibilities, while the

miserable rich man is an empty man looking to riches for that fullness of life which can only be

evolved from within.

Thus prosperity resolves itself into a moral capacity, and in the wisdom to rightfully use and lawfully

enjoy the material things which are inseparable from our earthly life. If one would be free without, let

him first be free within, for if he be bound in a spirit by weakness, selfishness, or vice, how can the

possession of money liberate him! Will it not rather become, in his hands, a ready instrument by which

to further enslave himself?

The visible effects of prosperity, then, must not be considered alone, but in their relation to the mental

and moral cause. There is a hidden foundation to every building; the fact that it continues to stands is

proof of that. There is a hidden foundation to every from of established success; its permanence proves

that it is so. Prosperity stands on the foundation of character, and there is not, in all the wide universe,

any other foundation. True wealth is weal, welfare, well being, soundness, wholeness, and happiness.

The wretched rich are not truly wealthy. They are merely encumbered with money, luxury, and leisure,

as instruments of self torture. By their possessions they are self cursed.

The moral man is ever blessed, ever happy, and his life, viewed as a whole, is always a success. To

these there is no exception, for whatever failures he may have in detail, the finished work of his life

will be sound, whole, complete; and through all he will have a quiet conscience, an honorable name,

and all manifold blessings which are inseparable from richness of character, and without this moral

richness, financial riches will not avail or satisfy.

Let us briefly recapitulate, and again view the Eight Pillars in their strength and splendour.

Energy – Rousing one‘s self up to strenuous and unremitting exertion in the accomplishment of one‘s

task.

Economy – Concentration of power, the conservation of both capital and character, the latter being

mental capital, and therefore of the utmost importance.

Integrity – Unswerving honesty; keeping inviolate all promises, agreements, and contracts, apart from

all considerations of loss or gain.

System – Making all details, subservient to order, and thereby relieving the memory and the mind of

superfluous work and strain by reducing many to one.

Sympathy – Magnanimity, generosity, gentleness, and tenderness; being open handed, free, and kind.

Sincerity – Being sound and whole, robust and true; and therefore not being one person in public and

another in private, and not assuming good actions openly while doing bad actions in secret.

Impartiality – Justice; not striving for self, but weighing both sides, and acting in accordance with

equity.

Self – Reliance – Looking to one‘s self only for strength and support by standing on principles which

are fixed and invincible, and not relying upon outward things which at any moment may be snatched

away.

How can any life be other than successful which is built on these Eight Pillars? Their strength is such

that no physical or intellectual strength can compare with it; and to have built all the eight perfectly

would render a man invincible. It will be found, however, that men are often strong in one or several of

these qualities, and weak in others, and it is this weak element that invites failure. It is foolish, for

instance, to attribute a man‘s failure in business to his honest. It is impossible for honesty to produce

failure. The cause of failure must be looked for in some other direction – in the lack, and not the

possession, of some good necessary quality. Moreover, such attribution of failure to honesty is a slur on

the integrity of commerce; and a false indictment of those men, numerous enough, who are honourably

engaged in trade. A man may be strong in Energy, Economy, and System, but comparatively weak in

the other five. Such a man will just fail of complete success by lacking one of the four corner pillars,

namely, Integrity. His temple will give way at that weak corner, for the first four Pillars must be well

built before the Temple of Prosperity can stand secure. They are the first qualities to be acquired in a

man‘s moral evolution, and without them the second four cannot be possessed. Again, if a man be

strong in the first three, and lack the fourth, the absence of order will invite confusion and disaster into

his affairs; and so on with any partial combination of these qualities, especially of the first four, for the

second four are of so lofty a character that at present men can but possess them, with rare exceptions, in

a more or less imperfect form. The man of the world, then, who wishes to secure an abiding success in

any branch of commerce, or in one of the many lines of industry in which men are commonly engaged,

must build into his character, by practice, the first four moral Pillars. By these fixed principles he must

regulate his thought, his conduct, and his affairs; consulting them in every difficulty, making every

detail serve them, and above all, never deserting them under any circumstance to gain some personal

advantage or to save some personal trouble, for to so desert them is to make one‘s self vulnerable to

the disintegrating elements of evil, and to become assailable to accusations from others. He who so

abides by these four principles will achieve a full measure of success in his own particular work,

whatever it may be; his Temple of Prosperity will be well built and well supported, and it will stand

secure. The perfect practice of these four principles is within the scope of all men who are willing to

study them with that object in view, for they are so simple and plain that a child could grasp their

meaning, and their perfection in conduct does not call for an unusual degree of self sacrifice, though it

demands some self denial and personal discipline without which there can be no success in this world

of action. The second four pillars, however, are principles of a more profound nature, are more difficult

to understand and practice, and call from the highest degree of self sacrifice and self effacement. Few,

at present, can reach that detachment from the personal element which their perfect practice demands,

but the few who accomplish this in any marked degree will vastly enlarge their powers and enrich their

life, and will adorn their Temple of Prosperity with a singular and attractive beauty which will gladden

and elevate all beholders long after they have passed away.

But those who are beginning to build their Temple of Prosperity in accordance with the teaching of this

book, must bear in mind that a building requires time to erect, and it must be patiently raised up, brick

upon brick and stone upon stone, and the Pillars must be firmly fixed and cemented, and labour and

care will be needed to make the whole complete. And the building of this inner mental Temple is none

the less real and substantial because invisible and noiseless, for in the raising up of his, as of Solomon‘s

Temple which was ―seven years in building‖ – it can be said, ―there was neither hammer nor axe nor

any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in the building‖.

Even so, oh reader construct thy character, raise up the house of thy life, build up thy Temple of

Prosperity. Be not as the foolish who rise and fall upon the uncertain flux of selfish desires: but be at

peace in thy labour, crown thy career with completeness, and so be numbered among the wise who,

without uncertainty, build upon a fixed and secure foundation – even upon the Principles of Truth

which endure for ever.

Man: king of mind, body, and circumstance. By

James Allen.

Contents

1. Foreword

2. The inner world of thoughts

3. The outer world of things

4. Habit: its slavery and its freedom

5. Bodily conditions

6. Poverty

7. Man‘s spiritual dominion

8. Conquest: not resignation

Foreword

The problem of life consists in learning how to live. It is like the problem of addition or subtraction to

the schoolboy. When mastered, all difficulty disappears, and the problem has vanished. All the

problems of life, whether they be social, political, or religious, subsist in ignorance and wrong-living.

As they are solved in the heart of each individual, they will be solved in the mass of men. Humanity at

present is in the painful stage of ―learning.‖ It is confronted with the difficulties of its own ignorance.

As men learn to live rightly, learn to direct their forces and use their functions and faculties by the light

of wisdom, the sum of life will be correctly done, and its mastery will put an end to all the ―problems

of evil.‖ To the wise, all such problems have ceased.

JAMES ALLEN

Within, around, above, below,

The primal forces burn and brood,

Awaiting wisdom‘s guidance; lo!

All their material is good:

Evil subsists in their abuse;

Good, in their wise and lawful use.

1. The inner world of thoughts

Man is the maker of happiness and misery. Further, he is the creator and perpetuator of his own

happiness and misery. These things are not externally imposed; they are internal conditions. Their

cause is neither deity, nor devil, nor circumstance, but Thought. They are the effects of deeds, and

deeds are the visible side of thoughts. Fixed attitudes of mind determine courses of conduct, and from

courses of conduct come those reactions called happiness and unhappiness. This being so, it follows

that, to alter the reactive condition, one must alter the active thought. To exchange misery for happiness

it is necessary to reverse the fixed attitude of mind and habitual course of conduct which is the cause of

misery, and the reversed effect will appear in the mind and life. A man has no power to be happy while

thinking and acting selfishly; he cannot be unhappy while thinking and acting unselfishly. Wheresoever

the cause is, there the effect will appear. Man cannot abrogate effects, but he can alter causes. He can

purify his nature; he can remould his character. There is great power in self-conquest; there is great joy

in transforming oneself.

Each man is circumscribed by his own thoughts, but he can gradually extend their circle; he can enlarge

and elevate his mental sphere. He can leave the low, and reach up to the high; he can refrain from

harbouring thoughts that are dark and hateful, and can cherish thoughts that are bright and beautiful;

and as he does his, he will pass into a higher sphere of power and beauty, will become conscious of a

more complete and perfect world.

For men live in spheres low or high according to the nature of their thoughts. Their world is as dark and

narrow as they conceive it to be, as expansive and glorious as their comprehensive capacity. Everything

around them is tinged with the colour of their thoughts.

Consider the man whose mind is suspicious, covetous, envious. How small and mean and drear

everything appears to him. Having no grandeur in himself, he sees no grandeur anywhere; being

ignoble himself, he is incapable of seeing nobility in any being. Even his God is a covetous being that

can be bribed, and he judges all men and women to be just as petty and selfish as he himself is, so that

he sees in the most exalted acts of unselfishness only motives that are mean and base.

Consider again the man whose mind is unsuspecting, generous, magnanimous. How wondrous and

beautiful is his world. He is conscious of some kind of nobility in all creatures and beings. He sees men

as true, and to him they are true. In his presence the meanest forget their nature, and for the moment

become like himself, getting a glimpse, albeit confused, in that temporary upliftments of a higher order

of things, of an immeasurably nobler and happier life.

That small-minded, and this large-hearted, man live in two different worlds, though they be neighbours.

Their consciousness embraces totally different principles. Their actions are each the reverse of the

other. Their moral insight is contrary. They each look out upon a different order of things. Their mental

spheres are separate, and, like two detached circles, they never mingle. The one is in hell, the other in

heaven as truly as they will ever be, and death will not place a greater gulf between them than already

exists. To the one, the world is a den of thieves; to the other, it is the dwelling-place of Gods. The one

keeps a revolver handy, and is always on his guard against being robbed or cheated (unconscious of the

fact that he is all the time robbing and cheating himself), the other keeps ready a banquet for the best.

He throws open his doors to talent, beauty, genius, goodness. His friends are of the aristocracy of

character. They have become a part of himself. They are in his sphere of thought, his world of

consciousness. From his heart pours forth nobility, and it returns to him tenfold in the multitude of

those who love him and do him honour.

The natural grades in human society - what are they but spheres of thought, and modes of conduct

manifesting those spheres? The proletariat may rail against these divisions, but he will not alter or

affect them. There is no artificial remedy for equalising states of thought having no natural affinity, and

separated by the fundamental principles of life. The lawless and the law-abiding are eternally apart, nor

is it hatred nor pride that separates them, but states of intelligence and modes of conduct which in the

moral principles of things stand mutually unrelated. The rude and ill-mannered are shut out from the

circle of the gentle and refined by the impassable wall of their own mentality which, though they may

remove by patient self-improvement, they can never scale by a vulgar intrusion. The kingdom of

heaven is not taken by violence, but he who conforms to its principles receives the password. The

ruffian moves in a society of ruffians; the saint is one of an elect brethren whose communion is divine

music. All men are mirrors reflecting according to their own surface. All men, looking at the world of

men and things, are looking into a mirror which gives back their own reflection.

Each man moves in the limited or expansive circle of his own thoughts, and all outside that circle is

non-existent to him. He only knows that which he has become. The narrower the boundary, the more

convinced is the man that there is no further limit, no other circle. The lesser cannot contain the greater,

and he has no means of apprehending the larger minds; such knowledge comes only by growth. The

man who moves in a widely extended circle of thought knows all the lesser circles from which he has

emerged, for in the larger experience all lesser experiences are contained and preserved; and when his

circle impinges upon the sphere of perfect manhood, when he is fitting himself for company and

communion with them of blameless conduct and profound understanding, then his wisdom will have

become sufficient to convince him that there are wider circles still beyond of which he is as yet but

dimly conscious, or is entirely ignorant.

Men, like schoolboys, find themselves in standards or classes to which their ignorance or knowledge

entitles them. The curriculum of the sixth standard is a mystery to the boy in the first; it is outside and

beyond the circle of his comprehension; but he reaches it by persistent effort and patient growth in

learning. By mastering and outgrowing all the standards between, he comes at last to the sixth, and

makes its learning his own; and beyond still is the sphere of the teacher. So in life, men whose deeds

are dark and selfish, full of passion and personal desire, cannot comprehend those whose deeds are

bright and unselfish, whose minds are calm, deep, and pure, but they can reach this higher standard,

this enlarged consciousness, by effort in right doing, by growth in thought and moral comprehension.

And above and beyond all lower and higher standards stand the Teachers of mankind, the Cosmic

Masters, the Saviours of the world whom the adherents of the various religions worship. There are

grades in teachers as in pupils, and some there are who have not yet reached the rank and position of

Master, yet, by the sterling morality of their character, are guides and teachers; but to occupy a pulpit

or rostrum does not make a man a teacher. A man is constituted a teacher by virtue of that moral

greatness which calls forth the respect and reverence of mankind.

Each man is as low or high, as little or great, as base or noble as his thoughts; no more, no less. Each

moves within the sphere of his own thoughts, and that sphere is his world. In that world in which he

forms his habits of thought, he finds his company. He dwells in the region which harmonises with his

particular growth. But he need not perforce remain in the lower worlds. He can lift his thoughts and

ascend. He can pass above and beyond into higher realms, into happier habitations. When he chooses

and wills he can break the carapace of selfish thought, and breathe the purer airs of a more expansive

life.

2. The outer world of things

The world of things is the other half of the world of thoughts. The inner informs the outer. The greater

embraces the lesser. Matter is the counterpart of mind. Events are streams of thought. Circumstances

are combinations of thought, and the outer conditions and actions of others in which each man is

involved are intimately related to his own mental needs and development. Man is a part of his

surroundings. He is not separate from his fellows, but is bound closely to them by the peculiar intimacy

and interaction of deeds, and by those fundamental laws of thought which are the roots of human

society.

One cannot alter external things to suit his passing whims and wishes, but he can set aside his whims

and wishes; he can so alter his attitude of mind towards externals that they will assume a different

aspect. He cannot mould the actions of others towards him, but he can rightly fashion his actions

towards them. He cannot break down the wall of circumstance by which he is surrounded, but he can

wisely adapt himself to it, or find the way out into enlarged circumstances by extending his mental

horizon. Things follow thoughts. Alter your thoughts, and things will receive a new adjustment. To

reflect truly the mirror must be true. A warped glass gives back an exaggerated image. A disturbed

mind gives a distorted reflection of the world. Subdue the mind, organise and tranquillise it, and a more

beautiful image of the universe, a more prefect perception of the world-order will be the result.

Man has all power within the world of his own mind, to purify and perfect it; but his power in the outer

world of other minds is subject and limited. This is made plain when we reflect that each finds himself

in a world of men and things, a unit amongst myriads of similar units. These units do not act

independently and despotically, but responsively and sympathetically. My fellow-men are involved in

my actions, and they will deal with them. If what I do be a menace to them, they will adopt protective

measures against me. As the human body expels its morbid atoms, so the body politic instinctively

expurgates its recalcitrant members. Your wrong acts are so many wounds inflicted on this body politic,

and the healing of its wounds will be your pain and sorrow. This ethical cause and effect is not different

from that physical cause and effect with which the simplest is acquainted. It is but an extension of the

same law; its application to the larger body of humanity. No act is aloof. Your most secret deed is

invisibly reported, its good being protected in joy, its evil destroyed in pain. There is a great ethical

truth in the old fable of ―the Book of Life,‖ in which every thought and deed is recorded and judged. It

is because of this – that your deed belongs, not alone to yourself, but to humanity and the universe -

that you are powerless to avert external effects, but are all-powerful to modify and correct internal

causes; and it is also because of this that the perfecting of one‘s own deeds is man‘s highest duty and

most sublime accomplishment.

The obverse of this truth – that you are powerless to obviate external things and deeds – is, that external

things and deeds are powerless to injure you. The cause of your bondage as of your deliverance is

within. The injury that comes to you through others is the rebound of your own deed, the reflex of your

own mental attitude. They are the instruments, you are the cause. Destiny is ripened deeds. The fruit of

life, both bitter and sweet, is received by each man in just measure. The righteous man is free. None

can injure him; none can destroy him; none can rob him of his peace. His attitude towards men, born of

understanding, disarms their power to wound him. Any injury which they may try to inflict, rebounds

upon themselves to their own hurt, leaving him unharmed and untouched. The good that goes from him

is his perennial fount of happiness, his eternal source of strength. Its root is serenity, its flower is joy.

The harm which a man sees in the action of another towards him – say, for instance, an act of slander –

is not in the act itself, but in his attitude of mind towards it; the injury and unhappiness are created by

himself, and subsist in his lack of understanding concerning the nature and power of deeds. He thinks

the act can permanently injure or ruin his character, whereas it is utterly void of any such power; the

reality being that the deed can only injure or ruin the doer of it. Thinking himself injured, the man

becomes agitated and unhappy, and takes great pains to counteract the supposed harm to himself, and

these very pains give the slander an appearance of truth, and aid rather than hinder it. All his agitation

and unrest is created by his reception of the deed, and not actually by the deed itself. The righteous man

has proved this by the fact that the same act has ceased to arouse in him any disturbance. He

understands, and therefore ignores, it. It belongs to a sphere which he has ceased to inhabit, to a region

of consciousness with which he has no longer any affinity. He does not receive the act into himself, the

thought of injury to himself being absent. He lives above the mental darkness in which such acts thrive,

and they can no more injure or disturb him than a boy can injure or divert the sun by throwing stones at

it. It was to emphasise this that Buddha, to the end of his days, never ceased to tell his disciples that so

long as the thought ―I have been injured,‖ or ―I have been cheated,‖ or ―I have been insulted,‖ could

arise in a man‘s mind, he had not comprehended the Truth.

And as with the conduct of others, so is it with external things – with surroundings and circumstances –

in themselves they are neither good nor bad, it is the mental attitude and state of heart that makes them

so. A man imagines he could do great things if he were not hampered by circumstances - by want of

money, want of time, want of influence, and want of freedom from family ties. In reality the man is not

hindered by these things at all. He, in his mind, ascribes to them a power which they do not possess,

and he submits not to them, but to his opinion about them, that is, to a weak element in his nature. The

real ―want‖ that hampers him is the want of the right attitude of mind. When he regards his

circumstances as spurs to his resources, when he sees that his so-called ―drawbacks‖ are the very steps

up which he is to mount successfully to his achievement, then his necessity gives birth to invention,

and the ―hindrances‖ are transformed into aids. The man is the all-important factor. If his mind be

wholesome and rightly tuned, he will not whine and whimper over his circumstances, but will rise up,

and outgrow them. He who complains of his circumstances has not yet become a man, and Necessity

will continue to prick and lash him till he rises into manhood‘s strength, and then she will submit to

him. Circumstance is a severe taskmaster to the weak, an obedient servant to the strong.

It is not external things, but our thoughts about them, that bind us or set us free. We forge our own

chains, build our own dungeons, take ourselves prisoners; or we loose our bonds, build our own

palaces, or roam in freedom through all scenes and events. If I think that my surroundings are powerful

to bind me, that thought will keep me bound. If I think that, in my thought and life, I can rise above my

surroundings, that thought will liberate me. One should ask of his thoughts, ―Are they leading to

bondage or deliverance?‖ and he should abandon thoughts that bind, and adopt thoughts that set free.

If we fear our fellow-men, fear opinion, poverty, the withdrawal of friends and influence, then we are

bound indeed, and cannot know the inward happiness of the enlightened, the freedom of the just; but if

in our thoughts we are pure and free, if we see in life‘s reactions and reverses nothing to cause us

trouble or fear, but everything to aid us in our progress, nothing remains that can prevent us from

accomplishing the aims of our life, for then we are free indeed.

3. Habit: its slavery and its freedom

Man is subject to the law of habit. Is he then free? Yes, he is free. Man did not make life and its laws;

they are eternal; he finds himself involved in them and he can understand and obey them. Man‘s power

does not enable him to make laws of being; it subsists in discrimination and choice. Man does not

create one jot of the universal conditions or laws; they are the essential principles of things, and are

neither made nor unmade. He discovers, not makes, them. Ignorance of them is at the root of the

world‘s pain. To defy them is folly and bondage. Who is the freer man, the thief who defies the laws of

his country or the honest citizen who obeys them? Who, again, is the freer man, the fool who thinks he

can live as he likes, or the wise man who chooses to do only that which is right?

Man is, in the nature of things, a being of habit, and this he cannot alter; but he can alter his habits. He

cannot alter the law of his nature, but he can adapt his nature to the law. No man wishes to alter the law

of gravitation, but all men adapt themselves to it; they use it by bending to it, not by defying or

ignoring it. Men do not run up against walls or jump over precipices in the hope that the law will alter

for them. They walk alongside walls, and keep clear of precipices.

Man can no more get outside the law of habit, than he can get outside the law of gravitation, but he can

employ it wisely or unwisely. As scientists and inventors master the physical forces and laws by

obeying and using them, so wise men master the spiritual forces and laws in the same way. While the

bad man is the whipped slave of habit, the good man is its wise director and master. Not its maker, let

me reiterate, nor yet its arbitrary commander, but its self-disciplined user, its master by virtue of

knowledge grounded on obedience. He is the bad man whose habits of thought and action are bad. He

is the good man whose habits of thought and action are good. The bad man becomes the good man by

transforming or transmuting his habits. He does not alter the law; he alters himself; he adapts himself to

the law. Instead of submitting to selfish indulgences, he obeys moral principles. He becomes the master

of the lower by enlisting in the service of the higher. The law of habit remains the same, but he is

changed from bad to good by his readjustment to the law.

Habit is repetition. Man repeats the same thoughts, the same actions, the same experiences over and

over again until they are incorporated with his being, until they are built into his character as part of

himself. Faculty is fixed habit. Evolution is mental accumulation. Man, today, is the result of millions

of repetitious thoughts and acts. He is not readymade, he becomes, and is still becoming. His character

is predetermined by his own choice. The thought, the act, which he chooses, that, by habit, he becomes.

Thus each man is an accumulation of thoughts and deeds. The characteristics which he manifests

instinctively and without effort are lines of thought and action become, by long repetition, automatic;

for it is the nature of habit to become, at last, unconscious, to repeat, as it were, itself without any

apparent choice or effort on the part of its possessor; and in due time it takes such complete possession

of the individual as to appear to render his will powerless to counteract it. This is the case with all

habits, whether good or bad; when bad, the man is spoken of as being the ―victim‖ of a bad habit or a

vicious mind; when good, he is referred to as having, by nature, a ―good disposition‖.

All men are, and will continue to be, subject to their own habits, whether they be good or bad - that is,

subject to their own reiterated and accumulated thoughts and deeds. Knowing this, the wise man

chooses to subject himself to good habits, for such service is joy, bliss, and freedom; while to become

subject to bad habits is misery, wretchedness, slavery.

This law of habit is beneficent, for while it enables a man to bind himself to the chains of slavish

practices, it enables him to become so fixed in good courses as to do them unconsciously, to

instinctively do that which is right, without restraint or exertion, and in perfect happiness and freedom.

Observing this automatism in life, men have denied the existence of will or freedom on man‘s part.

They speak of him as being ―born‖ good or bad, and regard him as the helpless instrument of blind

forces.

It is true that man is the instrument of mental forces – or, to be more accurate, he is those forces – but

they are not blind, and he can direct them, and redirect them into new channels. In a word, he can take

himself in hand and reconstruct his habits; for though it is also true that he is born with a given

character, that character is the product of numberless lives during which it has been slowly built up by

choice and effort, and in this life it will be considerably modified by new experiences.

No matter how apparently helpless a man has become under the tyranny of a bad habit, or a bad

characteristic - and both are essentially the same - he can, so long as sanity remains, break away from it

and become free, replacing it by its opposite good habit; and when the good possesses him as the bad

formerly did, there will be neither wish nor need to break from that, for its dominance will be perennial

happiness, and not perpetual misery.

That which a man has formed within himself, he can break up and re-form when he so wishes and

wills; and a man does not wish to abandon a bad habit so long as he regards it as pleasurable. It is when

it assumes a painful tyranny over him that he begins to look for a way of escape, and finally abandons

the bad for something better.

No man is helplessly bound. The very law by which he has become a self-bound slave, will enable him

to become a self-emancipated master. To know this, he has but to act upon it - that is, to deliberately

and strenuously abandon the old lines of thought and conduct, and diligently fashion new and better

lines. That he may not accomplish this in a day, a week, a month, a year, or five years, should not

dishearten and dismay him. Time is required for the new repetitions to become established, and the old

ones to be broken up; but the law of habit is certain and infallible, and a line of effort patiently pursued

and never abandoned, is sure to be crowned with success; for if a bad condition, a mere negation, can

become fixed and firm, how much more surely can a good condition, a positive principle, become

established and powerful! A man is only powerless to overcome the wrong and unhappy elements in

himself so long as he regards himself as powerless. If to the bad habit is added the thought ―I cannot‖

the bad habit will remain. Nothing can be overcome till the thought of powerlessness is uprooted and

abolished from the mind. The great stumbling-block is not the habit itself, it is the belief in the

impossibility of overcoming it. How can a man overcome a bad habit so long as he is convinced that it

is impossible? How can a man be prevented from overcoming it when he knows that he can, and is

determined to do it? The dominant thought by which man has enslaved himself is the thought ―I cannot

overcome my sins.‖ Bring this thought out into the light, in all its nakedness, and it is seen to be a

belief in the power of evil, with its other pole, disbelief in the power of good. For a man to say, or

believe, that he cannot rise above wrong-thinking and wrong-doing, is to submit to evil, is to abandon

and renounce good.

By such thoughts, such beliefs, man binds himself; by their opposite thoughts, opposite beliefs, he sets

himself free. A changed attitude of mind changes the character, the habits, the life. Man is his own

deliverer. He has brought about his thraldom; he can bring about his emancipation. All through the ages

he has looked, and is still looking, for an external deliverer, but he still remains bound. The Great

Deliverer is within; He is the Spirit of Truth; and the Spirit of Truth is the Spirit of Good; and he is in

the Spirit of Good who dwells habitually in good thoughts and their effects, good actions.

Man is not bound by any power outside his own wrong thoughts, and from these he can set himself

free; and foremost, the enslaving thoughts from which he needs to be delivered are – ―I cannot rise,‖ ―I

cannot break away from bad habits,‖ ―I cannot alter my nature,‖ ―I cannot control and conquer myself‖,

―I CANNOT CEASE FROM SIN.‖ All these ―cannots‖ have no existence in the things to which they

submit; they exist only in thought.

Such negations are bad thought-habits which need to be eradicated, and in their place should be planted

the positive ―I can‖ which should be tended and developed until it becomes a powerful tree of habit,

bearing the good and life-giving fruit of right and happy living.

Habit binds us; habit sets us free. Habit is primarily in thought, secondarily in deed. Turn the thought

from bad to good, and the deed will immediately follow. Persist in the bad, and it will bind you tighter

and tighter; persist in the good, and it will take you into ever-widening spheres of freedom. He who

loves his bondage, let him remain bound. He who thirsts for freedom, let him come and be set free.

4. Bodily conditions

There are today scores of distinct schools devoted to the healing of the body; a fact which shows the

great prevalence of physical suffering, as the hundreds of religions, devoted to the comforting of men‘s

minds prove the universality of mental suffering. Each of these schools has its place in so far as it is

able to relieve suffering, even where it does not eradicate the evil; for with all these schools of healing,

the facts of disease and pain remain with us, just as sin and sorrow remain despite of the many

religions.

Disease and pain, like sin and sorrow, are too deep-seated to be removed by palliatives. Our ailments

have an ethical cause deeply rooted in the mind. I do not infer by this that physical conditions have no

part in disease; they play an important part as instruments, as factors in the chain of causation. The

microbe that carried the black death was the instrument of uncleanliess, and uncleanliness is, primarily,

a moral disorder. Matter is visible mind, and that bodily conflict which we call disease has a causal

affinity to that mental conflict which is associated with sin. In his present human or self-conscious

state, man‘s mind is continually being disturbed by violently conflicting desires, and his body attacked

by morbid elements. He is in a state of mental inharmony and bodily discomfort. Animals in their wild

and primitive state are free from disease because they are free from inharmony. They are in accord with

their surroundings, have no moral responsibility and no sense of sin, and are free from those violent

disturbances of remorse, grief, disappointment, etc., which are so destructive of man‘s harmony and

happiness, and their bodies are not afflicted. As man ascends into the divine or cosmic-conscious state,

he will leave behind and below him all these inner conflicts, will overcome sin and all sense of sin, and

will dispel remorse and sorrow. Being thus restored to mental harmony, he will become restored to

bodily harmony, to wholeness, health.

The body is the image of the mind, and in it are traced the visible features of hidden thoughts. The

outer obeys the inner, and the enlightened scientist of the future may be able to trace every bodily

disorder to its ethical cause in the mentality.

Mental harmony, or moral wholeness, makes for bodily health. I say makes for it, for it will not produce

it magically, as it were - as though one should swallow a bottle of medicine and then be whole and free

- but if the mentality is becoming more poised and restful, if the moral stature is increasing, then a sure

foundation of bodily wholeness is being laid, the forces are being conserved and are receiving a better

direction and adjustment; and even if perfect health is not gained, the bodily derangement, whatever it

be, will have lost its power to undermine the strengthened and uplifted mind.

One who suffers in body will not necessarily at once be cured when he begins to fashion his mind on

moral and harmonious principles; indeed, for a time, while the body is bringing to a crisis, and

throwing off, the effects of former inhamonies, the morbid condition may appear to be intensified. As a

man does not gain perfect peace immediately he enters upon the path of righteousness, but must, except

in rare instances, pass through a painful period of adjustment; neither does he, with the same rare

exceptions, at once acquire perfect health. Time is required for bodily as well as mental readjustment,

and even if health is not reached, it will be approached.

If the mind be made robust, the bodily condition will take a secondary and subordinate place, and will

cease to have that primary importance which so many give to it. If a disorder is not cured, the mind can

rise above it, and refuse to be subdued by it. One can be happy, strong, and useful in spite of it. The

statement so often made by health specialists that a useful and happy life is impossible without bodily

health is disproved by the fact that numbers of men who have accomplished the greatest works - men of

genius and superior talent in all departments - have been afflicted in their bodies, and today there are

plenty of living witnesses to this fact. Sometimes the bodily affliction acts as a stimulus to mental

activity, and aids rather than hinders its work. To make a useful and happy life dependent upon health,

is to put matter before mind, is to subordinate spirit to body.

Men of robust minds do not dwell upon their bodily condition if it be in any way disordered - they

ignore it, and work on, live on, as though it were not. This ignoring of the body not only keeps the

mind sane and strong, but it is the best resource for curing the body. If we cannot have a perfectly

sound body, we can have a healthy mind, and healthy mind is the best route to a sound body.

A sickly mind is more deplorable than a disordered body, and it leads to sickliness of body. The mental

invalid is in a far more pitiable condition than the bodily invalid. There are invalids (every physician

knows them) who only need to lift themselves into a strong, unselfish, happy frame of mind to discover

that their body is whole and capable.

Sickly thoughts about oneself, about one‘s body and food, should be abolished by all who are called by

the name of man. The man who imagines that the wholesome food he is eating is going to injure him,

needs to come to bodily vigour by the way of mental strength. To regard one‘s bodily health and safety

as being dependent on a particular kind of food which is absent from nearly every household, is to

court petty disorders. The vegetarian who says he dare not eat potatoes, that fruit produces indigestion,

that apples give him acidity, that pulses are poison, that he is afraid of green vegetables and so on, is

demoralising the noble cause which he professes to have espoused, is making it look ridiculous in the

eyes of those robust meat eaters who live above such sickly fears and morbid self-scrutinies. To

imagine that the fruits of the earth, eaten when one is hungry and in need of food, are destructive of

health and life is to totally misunderstand the nature and office of food. The office of food is to sustain

and preserve the body, not to undermine and destroy it. It is a strange delusion - and one that must react

deleteriously upon the body - that possesses so many who are seeking health by the way of diet, the

delusion that certain of the simplest, most natural, and purest of viands are bad of themselves, that they

have in them the elements of death, and not of life. One of these food-reformers once told me that he

believed his ailment (as well as the ailments of thousands of others) was caused by eating bread; not by

an excess of bread, but by the bread itself; and yet this man‘s bread food consisted of nutty, home-

made, wholemeal loaves. Let us get rid of our sins, our sickly thoughts, our self-indulgences and

foolish excesses before attributing our diseases to such innocent causes.

Dwelling upon one‘s petty troubles and ailments is a manifestation of weakness of character. To so

dwell upon them in thought leads to frequent talking about them, and this, in turn, impresses them more

vividly upon the mind, which soon becomes demoralised by such petting and pitying. It is as

convenient to dwell upon happiness and health as upon misery and disease; as easy to talk about them,

and much more pleasant and profitable to do so.

―Let us live happily then, not hating those who hate us!

Among men who hate us let us dwell free from hatred!

Let us live happily then, free from ailments among the ailing!

Among men who are ailing let us dwell free from ailments!

Let us live happily then, free from greed among the greedy!

Among men who are greedy let us dwell free from greed!‖

Moral principles are the soundest foundations for health, as well as for happiness. They are the true

regulators of conduct, and they embrace every detail of life. When earnestly espoused and intelligently

understood they will compel a man to reorganise his entire life down to the most apparently

insignificant detail. While definitely regulating one‘s diet, they will put an end to squeamishness, food-

fear, and foolish whims and groundless opinions as to the harmfulness of foods. When sound moral

health has eradicated self-indulgence and self-pity, all natural foods will be seen as they are -

nourishers of the body, and not its destroyers.

Thus a consideration of bodily conditions brings us inevitably back to the mind, and to those moral

virtues which fortify it with an invincible protection. The morally right are the bodily right. To be

continually transposing the details of life from passing views and fancies, without reference to fixed

principles, is to flounder in confusion; but to discipline details by moral principles is to see, with

enlightened vision, all details in their proper place and order.

For it is given to moral principle alone, in their personal domain, to perceive the moral order. In them

alone resides the insight that penetrates to causes, and with them only is the power to at once command

all details to their order and place, as the magnet draws and polarises the filings of steel.

Better even than curing the body is to rise above it; to be its master, and not to be tyrannised over by it;

not to abuse it, not to pander to it, never to put its claims before virtue; to discipline and moderate its

pleasures, and not to be overcome by its pains - in a word, to live in the poise and strength of the moral

powers, this, better than bodily cure, is a yet a safe way to cure, and it is a permanent source of mental

vigour and spiritual repose.

5. Poverty

Many of the greatest men through all ages have abandoned riches and adopted poverty to better enable

them to accomplish their lofty purposes. Why, then, is poverty regarded as such a terrible evil? Why is

it that this poverty, which these great men regard as a blessing, and adopt as a bride, should be looked

upon by the bulk of mankind as a scourge and a plague? The answer is plain. In the one case, the

poverty is associated with a nobility of mind which not only takes from it all appearance of evil, but

which lifts it up and makes it appear good and beautiful, makes it seem more attractive and more to be

desired than riches and honour, so much so that, seeing the dignity and happiness of the noble

mendicant, thousands imitate him by adopting his mode of life. In the other case, the poverty of our

great cities is associated with everything that is mean and repulsive - with swearing, drunkenness, filth,

laziness, dishonesty and crime. What, then, is the primary evil: is it poverty, or is it sin? The answer is

inevitable - it is sin. Remove sin from poverty, and its sting is gone; it has ceased to be the gigantic evil

that it appeared, and can even be turned to good and noble ends. Confucius held up one of his poor

disciples, Yen-hwui by name, as an example of lofty virtue to his richer pupils, yet ―although he was so

poor that he had to live on rice and water, and had no better shelter than a hovel, he uttered no

complaint. Where this poverty would have made other men discontented and miserable, he did not

allow his equanimity to be disturbed.‖ Poverty cannot undermine a noble character, but it can set it off

to better advantage. The virtues of Yen-hwui shone all the brighter for being set in poverty, like

resplendent jewels set in a contrasting background.

It is common with social reforms to regard poverty as the cause of the sins with which it is associated;

yet the same reformers refer to the immoralities of the rich as being caused by their riches. Where there

is a cause its effect will appear and were affluence the cause of immorality, and poverty the cause of

degradation, then every rich man would become immoral and every poor man would come to

degradation.

An evil-doer will commit evil under any circumstances, whether he be rich or poor, or midway between

the two conditions. A right doer will do right howsoever he be placed. Extreme circumstances may help

to bring out the evil which is already there awaiting its opportunity, but they cannot cause the evil,

cannot create it.

Discontent with one‘s financial condition is not the same as poverty. Many people regard themselves as

poor whose income runs into several hundreds – and in some cases several thousands of pounds a year,

combined with light responsibilities. They imagine their affliction to be poverty; their real trouble is

covetousness. They imagine their affliction to be poverty; their real trouble is covetousness. They are

not made unhappy by poverty, but by the thirst for riches. Poverty is more often in the mind than in the

purse. So long as a man thirsts for more money he will regard himself as poor, and in that sense he is

poor, for covetousness is poverty of mind. A miser may be a millionaire, but he is as poor as when he

was penniless.

On the other hand, the trouble with so many who are living in indigence and degradation is that they

are satisfied with their condition. To be living in dirt, disorder, laziness, and swinish self-indulgence,

revelling in foul thoughts, foul words and unclean surroundings, and to be satisfied with oneself, is

deplorable. Here again, ―poverty‖ resolves itself into a mental condition, and its solution, as a

―problem‖, is to be looked for in the improvement of the individual from within, rather than of his

outward condition. Let a man be made clean and alert within, and he will no longer be content with dirt

and degradation without. Having put his mind in order, he will then put his house in order; indeed, both

he and others will know that he has put himself right by the fact that he has put his immediate

surroundings right. His altered heart shows in his altered life.

There are, of course, those who are neither self-deceived nor self-degraded and yet are poor. Many such

are satisfied to remain poor. They are contented, industrious, and happy, and desire nothing else; but

those among them who are dissatisfied, and are ambitious for better surroundings and greater scope

should, and usually do, use their poverty as a spur to the exercise of their talents and energies. By self-

improvement and attention to duty, they can rise into the fuller, more responsible life which they desire.

Devotion to duty is, indeed, not only the way out of that poverty which is regarded as restrictive, it is

also the royal road to affluence, influence, and lasting joy, yea, even to perfection itself. When

understood in its deepest sense it is seen to be related to all that is best and noblest in life. It includes

energy, industry, concentrated attention to the business of one‘s life, singleness of purpose, courage and

faithfulness, determination and self-reliance, and that self-abnegation which is the key to all real

greatness. A singularly successful man was once asked, ―What is the secret of your success?‖ and he

replied, ―Getting up at six o‘ clock in the morning, and minding my own business.‖ Success, honour

and influence always come to him who diligently attends to the business of his life, and religiously

avoids interfering with the duties of others.

It may here be urged, and is usually so urged, that the majority of those who are in poverty - for

instance, the mill and factory workers - have not the time or opportunity to give themselves to any

special work. This is a mistake. Time and opportunity are always at hand, are with everybody at all

times. Those of the poor above mentioned, who are content to remain where they are, can always be

diligent in their factory labour, and sober and happy in their homes; but those of them who feel that

they could better fill another sphere, can prepare for it by educating themselves in their spare time. The

hard-worked poor are, above all, the people who need to economise their time and energies; and the

youth who wishes to rise out of such poverty, must at the outset put aside the foolish and wasteful

indulgences of alcohol, tobacco, sexual vice, late hours at music halls, clubs and gaming parties, and

must give his evenings to the improvement of his mind in that course of education which is necessary

to his advancement. By this method numbers of the most influential men throughout history - some of

them among the greatest - have raised themselves from the commonest poverty; a fact which proves

that the time of necessity is the hour of opportunity, and not as is so often imagined and declared, the

destruction of opportunity; that the deeper the poverty, the greater is the incentive to action in those

who are dissatisfied with themselves, and are bent upon achievement.

Poverty is an evil or it is not, according to the character and the condition of mind of the one that is in

poverty. Wealth is an evil or not, in the same manner. Tolstoy chafed under his wealthy circumstances.

To him they were a great evil. He longed for poverty as the covetous long for wealth. Vice, however, is

always an evil, for it both degrades the individual who commits it, and is a menace to society. A logical

and profound study of poverty will always bring us back to the individual, and to the human heart.

When our social reformers condemn vice as they now condemn the rich; when they are as eager to

abolish wrong-living as they now are to abolish low wages, we may look for a diminution in that form

of degraded poverty which is one of the dark spots on our civilisation. Before such poverty disappears

altogether, the human heart will have undergone, during the process of evolution, a radical change.

When that heart is purged from covetousness and selfishness; when drunkenness, impurity, indolence

and self-indulgence are driven for ever from the earth, then poverty and riches will be known no more,

and every man will perform his duties with a joy so full and deep as is yet (except to the few whose

hearts are already pure) unknown to men, and all will eat of the fruit of their labour in sublime self-

respect and perfect peace.

6. Man’s spiritual dominion

The kingdom over which man is destined to rule with undisputed sway is that of his own mind and life;

but this kingdom, as already shown, is not separate from the universe, is not confined to itself alone; it

is intimately related to entire humanity, to nature, to the current of events in which it is, for the time

being, involved, and to the vast universe. Thus the mastery of this kingdom embraces the mastery of

the kingdom embraces the mastery of the knowledge of life; it lifts a man into the supremacy of

wisdom, bestowing upon him the gift of insight into human hearts, giving him the power to distinguish

between good and evil, also to comprehend that which is above both good and evil, and to know the

nature and consequences of deeds.

At present men are more or less under the sway of rebellious thoughts, and the conquest of these is the

supreme conquest of life. The unwise think that everything can be mastered but oneself, and they seek

for happiness for themselves and others by modifying external things. The transposing of outward

effects cannot bring permanent happiness, or bestow wisdom; the patching and coddling of a sin-laden

body cannot produce health and well-being. The wise know that there is no real mastery until self is

subdued, that when oneself is conquered, the subjugation of externals is finally assured, and they find

happiness for ever springing up within them, in the calm strength of divine virtue. They put away sin,

and purify and strengthen the body by rising superior to the sway of its passions.

Man can reign over his own mind; can be lord over himself. Until he does so reign, his life is

unsatisfactory and imperfect. His spiritual dominion is the empire of the mental forces of which his

nature is composed. The body has no causative power. The ruling of the body - that is, of appetite and

passion – is the discipline of mental forces. The subduing, modifying, redirecting and transmuting of

the antagonising spiritual elements within, is the wonderful and mighty work which all men must,

sooner or later, undertake. For a long time man regards himself as the slave of external forces, but there

comes a day when his spiritual eyes open, and he sees that he has been a slave this long time to none

and nothing but his own ungoverned, unpurified self. In that day, he rises up and, ascending his

spiritual throne, he no longer obeys his desires, appetites, and passions, as their slave, but henceforth

rules them as his subjects. The mental kingdom through which he has been wont to wander as a puling

beggar and a whipped serf, he now discovers is his by right of lordly self control - his to set in order, to

organise and harmonise, to abolish its dissensions and painful contradictions, and bring it to a state of

peace.

Thus rising up and exercising his rightful spiritual authority, he enters the company of those kingly

ones who in all ages have conquered and attained, who have overcome ignorance, darkness, and mental

suffering, and have ascended into Truth.

7. Conquest: not resignation

He who has undertaken the sublime task of overcoming himself, does not resign himself to anything

that is evil; he subjects himself only to that which is good. Resignation to evil is the lowest weakness;

obedience to good is the highest power. To resign oneself to sin and sorrow, to ignorance and suffering,

is to say in effect, ―I give up; I am defeated; life is evil, and I submit.‖ Such resignation to evil is the

reverse of religion. It is a direct denial of good; it elevates evil to the position of supreme power in the

universe. Such submission to evil shows itself in a selfish and sorrowful life; a life alike devoid of

strength against temptation, and of that joy and calm which are the manifestation of a mind that is

dominated by good.

Man is not framed for perpetual resignation and sorrow, but for final victory and joy. All the spiritual

laws of the universe are with the good man, for good preserves and shields. There are no laws of evil.

Its nature is destruction and desolation.

The conscious modification of the character away from evil and towards good, forms, at present, no

part in the common course of education. Even our religious teachers have lost this knowledge and

practice, and cannot, therefore, instruct concerning it. Moral growth is, so far, in the great mass of

mankind, unconscious, and is brought about by the stress and struggle of life. The time will come,

however, when the conscious formation of character will form an important part in the education of

youth, and when no man will be able to fill the position of preacher unless he be a man of habitual self-

control, unblemished integrity, and exalted purity, so as to be able to give sound instruction in the

making of character, which will then be the main feature of religion.

The doctrine herein set forth by the author is the doctrine of conquest over evil; the annihilation of sin;

and necessarily the permanent establishment of man in the knowledge of good, and in the enjoyment of

perpetual peace. This is the teaching of the Masters of religion in all ages. Howsoever it may have been

disguised and distorted by the unenlightened, if is the doctrine of all the perfect ones that were, and will

be the doctrine of all the perfect ones that are to come. It is the doctrine of Truth.

And the conquest is not of an evil without; not of evil men, or evil spirits, or evil things; but of the evil

within; of evil thoughts, evil desires, evil deeds; for when every man has destroyed the evil within his

own heart, to where in the whole vast universe will any one be able to point, and say, ―There is evil?‖

In that great day when all men have become good within, all traces of evil will have vanished from the

earth; sin and sorrow will be unknown; and there will be universal joy for evermore.

The Shining Gateway. By James Allen.

Contents

1. Editor‘s foreword

2. The Shining Gateway of Meditation

3. Temptation

4. Regeneration

5. Actions and Motives

6. Morality and Religion

7. Memory, Repetition, and Habit

8. Words and Wisdom

9. Truth Made Manifest

10. Spiritual Humility

11. Spiritual Strength

Editor’s foreword

Students of the works of James Allen all over the world will welcome with joy another book from his

able pen. In this work we find the Prophet of Meditation in one of his deepest and yet most lucid

expositions. How wonderfully he deals with fundamental principles ! Here the reader will find no

vague statement of generalities, for the writer enters with tender reverence into every detail of human

experience. It is as though he came back to The Shining Gate, and, standing there, he reviewed all the

way up which his own feet have travelled, passing over no temptation that is common to man; knowing

that the obstacles that barred his ascending pathway, or the clouds that at times obscured his vision, are

the common experiences of all those who have set their faces towards the heights of Blessed Vision. As

we read his words now, he seems to stand and beckon to us, saying, "Come on, my fellow Pilgrims; it

is straight ahead to the Shining Gateway ; I have blazed the track for you." In sending forth this,

another posthumous volume from his pen, we have no doubt but that it will help many and many an

aspiring soul up to the heights, until at last they too stand within The shining Gateway.

LILY L. ALLEN.

"Bryngoleu," Ilfracombe, ENGLAND

Behold the shining gateway

He who attaineth unto Purity

The faultless Parthenon of Truth doth use

Awake ! Disperse the dreams of self and sin ?

Behold the Shining Gateway! Enter in!

1. The shining gateway of meditation

Be watchful, fearless, faithful, patient, pure:

By earnest meditation sound the depths

Profound of life, and scale the heights sublime

Of Love and Wisdom. He who does not find

The Way of Meditation cannot reach

Emancipation and enlightenment.

The unregenerate man is subject to these three things — Desire, Passion, Sorrow. He lives habitually in

these conditions, and neither questions nor examines them. He regards them as his life itself, and

cannot conceive of any life apart from them. To-day he desires, to-morrow he indulges his passions,

and the third day he grieves ; by these three things (which are always found together) he is impelled,

and does not know why he is so impelled; the inner forces of desire and passion arise, almost

automatically, within him, and he gratifies their demands Sans question; led on blindly by his blind

desires, he falls, periodically, into the ditches of remorse and sorrow. His condition is not merely

unintelligible to him, it is unperceived: for so immersed is he in the desire (or self) consciousness that

he cannot step outside of it, as it were, to examine it.

To such a man the idea of rising above desire and suffering into a new life where such things do not

obtain seems ridiculous. He associates all life with the pleasurable gratification of desire, and so, by

the law of reaction, he also lives in the misery of afflictions, fluctuating ceaselessly between pleasure

and pain.

When reflection dawns in the mind, there arises a sense (dim and uncertain at first) of a calmer, wiser,

and loftier life; and as the stages of introspection and self-analysis are reached, this sense increases in

clearness and intensity, so that by the time the first three stages are fully completed, a conviction of the

reality of such a life and of the possibility of attaining it is firmly fixed in the mind.

Such conviction, which consists of a steadfast belief in the supremacy of purity and goodness over

desire and passion, is called faith. Such faith is the stay, support and comfort of the man who, while yet

in the darkness, is searching earnestly for the Light which breaks upon him for the first time in all its

dazzling splendour and ineffable majesty when he enters the Shining Gateway of Meditation. Without

such faith he could not stand for a single day against the trials, failures, and difficulties which beset him

continually, much less could be courageously fight and overcome them, and his final conquest and

salvation would be impossible.

Upon entering the stage of meditation, faith gradually ripens into knowledge, and the new regenerate

life begins to be realised in its quiet wisdom, calm beauty, and ordered strength, and day by day its joy

and splendour increase.

The final conquest over sin is now assured. Lust, hatred, anger, covetousness, pride and vanity, desire

for pleasure, wealth, and fame, worldly honour and power –all these have become dead things, shortly

to pass away for ever; there is no more life nor happiness in them; they have no part in the life of the

regenerate one, who knows that he can never again go back to them, for now the "Old man" of self and

sin is dead, and the "new man" of Love and Purity is born within him. He has become (or becomes, as

the process of meditation ripens and bears fruit) a new being, one in whom Purity, Love, Wisdom, and

Peacefulness are the ruling qualities, and wherein strifes, envies, suspicions, hatreds, and jealousies

cannot find lodgment. "Old things have passed away, and, behold, all things have become new"; men

and things are seen in a different light, and a new universe is unveiled; there is no confusion; as out of

the inner chaos of conflicting desires, passions, and sufferings the new being arises, there arises in the

outer world of apparently irreconcilable conditions a new Cosmos, ordered, sequential, harmonious,

ineffably glorious, faultless in equity.

Meditation is a process both of Purification and Adjustment. Aspiration is the purifying element, and

the harmonising power resides in the intellectual train of thought involved.

When the stage of meditation is reached and entered upon, two distinct processes of spiritual

transmutation is reached and entered upon, two distinct processes of spiritual transmutation begin to

take place, namely:

1. Transmutation of passion.

2. Transmutation of affliction.

The two conditions proceed simultaneously, as they are interdependent, and act and react one upon the

other. Passion and affliction, or sin and suffering, are two aspects of one thing, namely, the Self in man,

that self which is the source of all the troubles which afflict mankind. They represent Power, but power

wrongly used. Passion is a lower manifestation of a divine energy which possesses a higher use and

application. Affliction is the limitation and negation of that energy, and is therefore a means of

restoring harmony. "It says, in effect to the self-bound man, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." The

man of meditation transfers the passional energy from the realm of evil (Self-following) to the realm,

of good (self-overcoming). To-day he reflects, tomorrow he overcomes his passions, and the third day

he rejoices. The mind is drawn from its downward tendency, and is directed upwards. The base metal

of error is transmuted into the pure gold of Truth. Lust, hatred, and selfishness disappear; and purity,

love, and goodwill take their place. As the stage proceeds, the mind becomes more and more firmly

fixed in the higher manifestations, and it becomes increasingly difficult for it to think and act in the

lower ; and just in the measure that the mind is freed from the lower, violent, and inharmonious

activities, just so much is passion transmuted into power, and affliction into bliss.

This means that there is no such thing as affliction to the sinless man. When sin is put away, affliction

disappears.

Selfhood is the source of suffering; Truth is the source of bliss.

When the unregenerate man is abused, or slandered, misunderstood, or persecuted, it causes him

intense suffering; but when these things are brought to bear on the regenerate man, there arises in him

the rapture of heavenly bliss. None but he who has put away the great enemy, self, under his feet can

fully enter into and understand the saying.:

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of

evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad.

And why does the righteous (regenerate) man rejoice under those conditions which cause such misery

to the unrighteous (unregenerate) man? It is because, having overcome the evil in himself, he ceases to

see evil without. To the good man all things are good, and he utilises everything for the good of the

world. To him persecution is not an evil, it is a good. Having acquired insight, knowledge, and power,

he, by meeting that persecution in a loving spirit, helps and uplifts his persecutors, and accelerates their

spiritual progress, though they themselves know it not at the time. Thus he is filled with unspeakable

bliss because he has conquered the forces of evil; because, instead of succumbing to those forces, he

has learned how to use and direct them for the good and gain of mankind. He is blessed because he is at

one with all men, because he is reconciled to the universe, and has brought himself into harmony with

the Cosmic Order.

The following symbol will perhaps help the mind of the reader to more readily grasp what has been

explained.

LOVE, LIGHT, AND LIFE

KNOWLEDGE

A

S

P

I

R

A

T

I

O

N

PASSION AFFLICTION

D

E

S

I

R

E

IGNORANCE

LUST, DARKNESS AND DEATH

There is at first the underworld of lust, darkness, and death which is associated with ignorance ; rooted

in this is the foot of the cross—desire; in the body of the cross, desire branches out into two arms— the

right (active or positive) are, passion, being equalised and balanced by the left (passive or negative)

arm of affliction; uniting these, and rising out of them at the head of the cross, is aspiration; here,

wounded and bleeding, rests the thorn-crowned head, of humanity; at the end of this, and right at the

summit of the cross, is knowledge, which, while being at the apex of the self-life, is the base of the

Truth-life ; and above rises the heavenly world of Love, Light, and Life.

In this supremely beautiful world the regenerate man lives, even while living on this earth. He has

reached Nirvana, the Kingdom of Heaven. He has taken up his cross, and there is no more sin and

sufferings desire and passion and affliction are passed away. Harmony is restored, and all is bliss and

peace.

The cross is the symbol of pain. Desire is painful, passion is painful, affliction is painful, and.

aspiration is painful; this is why these things are symbolised by a cross which has two pairs of

conflicting poles. Affliction is the harmonising and purifying element in passion; aspiration is the

harmonising and purifying element in desire. Where the one is, the other must be also. Take away the

one, and the other disappears. Suffering, or affliction, is necessary to counteract passion; aspiration, or

prayer, is necessary to purge away desire; but for the regenerate man all these things are ended; he has-

risen into a new life and a new order of things—the consciousness of purity; lacking nothing and being

at one with all things, he does not need to pray for anything; redeemed and reconciled, contented and ill

peace, he finds nothing in the universe to hate or fear, and his is both the duty and the power to work

without ceasing for the present good and the ultimate salvation of mankind.

2. Temptation

I know that sorrow follows passion; know

That grief and emptiness and heartache wait

Upon all earthly joys; so am I sad ;

Yet Truth must be, and being, can be found;

And though I am in sorrow, this I know—

I shall be glad when I have found the Truth.

The only external tempters of man are The objects of Sensation. These, however, are powerless in

themselves until they are reflected in his mind as desirable objects to possess. His only enemy,

therefore, is his coveting of the objects of sensation. By ceasing to covet objects of sensation,

temptation and the painful fighting against impure desires pass away. This ceasing to covet objects of

sensation is called the relinquishing of desire ; it is the renunciation of the inner defilement, by which a

man ceases to be the slave of outward things, and becomes their master.

Temptation is a growth, a process more or less slow, the duration of which can be measured by the sage

who has gained accurate knowledge of the nature of his thoughts and acts and the laws governing them,

by virtue of having subjected himself to a long course of training in mental discipline and self-control.

It has its five stages, which can be clearly defined, and their development traced with precision. But the

man who is still immersed in temptation has, as yet, little or no knowledge of the nature of his thoughts

and acts and the laws governing them. He has lived so long in outward things—in the objects of

sensation—and has given so little time to introspection and the cleansing of his heart, that he lives in

almost total ignorance of the real nature of his thoughts and acts which he thinks and commits every

day. To him, temptation seems to be instantaneous, and his powerlessness to combat the sudden and,

apparently, unaccountable on slaught, causes him to regard it as a mystery, and mystery being the

mother of superstition, he may and usually does fall back upon some speculative belief to account for

his trouble, such as the belief in an invisible Evil Being, or power, outside himself who suddenly, and

without warning, attacks and torments him. Such a superstition renders him more powerless still, for he

has sufficient knowledge to understand that he cannot hope to successfully cope with a being more

powerful than himself, and of whose whereabouts and tactics he is altogether unacquainted ; and so he

introduces other beliefs and superstitions which his dilemma seems to necessitate, until at last; in

addition to all his sins and sufferings, he becomes burdened with a mass of supernatural beliefs which

engross his attention, and take him farther and farther away from the real cause of his difficulty.

Meantime he continues to be tempted and to fall, and must do so until by self-subjugation and self-

purification he has acquired the ability to trace the relation between cause and effect in his spiritual

nature, when, with purified and enlightened vision, he will see that the moment of temptation is but the

fulfilment of those impure desires which he secretly harbours in his own heart. And, later, with a still

purer heart, and when he has gained sufficient control over his wandering thoughts to be able to analyse

and understand them, he will see that the actual moment of temptation itself has its inception, its

growth, and its fruition.

What, then, are the stages in temptation ? And how is the process of temptation born in the mind ? How

does it grow and bear its bitter fruit? The stages are five, and are as follows .

1. PERCEPTION

2. COGITATION

3. CONCEPTION

4. ATTRACTION

and

5. DESIRE

The first stage is that in which objects of sensation are perceived as objects. This is pure perception,

and is without sin or defilement. The second stage is that in which objects of sensation are considered

as objects of personal pleasure. This is a brooding of the mind upon objects, with an undefined groping

for pleasurable sensation, and is the beginning of defilement and sin. In the third stage objects of

sensation are conceived as objects of pleasure. In this stage the objects are associated with certain

pleasurable sensations, and these sensations are conceived and called up vividly in the mind. In the

fourth stage objects of sensation are perceived as objects of pleasure. At this stage the pleasure as

connected with the object is distinctly defined, yet there is a confusion of pleasure and object, so that

the two appear as one, and a wish to possess the object arises in the mind; there is also a going out of

the mind towards the object. The fifth and last stage is an intense desire, a coveting and lusting to

possess the object in order to experience the pleasure and gratification which it will afford. With every

repetition, in the mind, of the first four stages, this desire is added to, as fuel is added to fire, and it

increases in intensity and ardour until at last the whole being is aflame with a burning passion which is

blind to everything but its own immediate pleasure and gratification. And when this painful fruition of

thought is reached, a man is said to be tempted. There is a still further stage of Action, which is merely

the doing of the thing desired, the outworking of the sin already committed in the mind. From desire to

action is but a short step.

The following table will better enable the mind of the reader to grasp the process and principle

involved.

Inaction - Holiness ; Rest.

1. Perception. Objects of Sensation Perceived as such.

2. Cogitation. Objects of Sensation Considered as a source of pleasure.

3. Conception. Objects of Sensation Conceived as affording pleasure.

4. Attraction. Objects of Sensation Perceived as pleasurable in possession.

5. Desire. Objects of Sensation Coveted as such: i.e., desired for personal delight and

pleasure.

Action—Sin; Unrest.

Every time a man is tempted, he passes, from inaction, though all the five stages in succession, and his

fall is a passing on into Action. The process varies greatly in duration according to the nature of the

temptation and the character of the tempted ; but after much yielding and many falls, the mind becomes

so familiar with the transition that it passes through all the stages with such rapidity as to make the

temptation appear as an instantaneous, indivisible experience.

The sage, however, never loses sight of the duration of time occupied in the process of temptation, but

watches its growth and transition; and just as the scientist can measure the time occupied in the

transition of sensation from the brain to the bodily extremities, or from the extremities to the brain,

which, ordinarily, appears not to occupy duration, so the sage measures (though by a different method)

the passage from pure perception to inflamed desire in a sudden experience of temptation.

This knowledge of the nature of temptation destroys its power, or rather its apparent power, for power

exists in holiness only. Ignorance is at the root of all sin, and it fades away when knowledge is admitted

into the mind. Just as darkness and the effects of darkness disappear when light is introduced, so sin

and its effects are dispersed when knowledge of one‘s spiritual nature is acquired and embraced.

How, then, does the sage avoid sin and remain in peace ? Knowing the nature of sinful acts—how they

are the result of temptation; knowing also the nature of temptation-how it is the end—and fruition of a

particular train of thought, he cuts off that train of thought at its commencement, not allowing his mind

to go out into the world of sensation, which is the world of pain and sorrow. He stands over his mind„

eternally vigilant, and does not allow his thoughts to pass beyond the safe gates of pure perception. To

him "all things are pure" because his mind is pure-He sees all objects, whether material or mental, as

they are, and not as the pleasure-seeker sees them —as objects of personal enjoyment; nor as the

tempted one sees them—as sources of evil and pain. His normal sphere, however, is that of Inaction,

which is perfect holiness and rest. This is a position of entire indifference to considerations of pleasure

and pain, regarding all things from the standpoint of right, and not from that of enjoyment. Is, then, the

sage, the sinless one, deprived of all enjoyment ? Is his life a dead monotony of inaction—inertia?

Truly, he is delivered from all those sensory excitement which the world calls "pleasure", but which

conceals, as a mask, the drawn features of pain ; and, being released from the bondage of cravings and

pleasures, he lives without ceasing in the divine, abidingjoy which the pleasure-seeker and the

wanderer in sin can neither know nor understand; but inaction in this particular means inaction as

regards sin ; inaction in the lower animal activities which, being cut off, their energy is transferred to

the higher intellectual and moral activities, releasing their power, and giving them untrammelled scope

and freedom.

Thus the sage avoids sin by extracting its root within himself, not allowing it to grow into attraction, to

blossom into desire, and to bear the bitter fruits of sinful actions. The unwise man, however, allows the

thought of pleasure to take root in his mind, where its growth, evokes sensations which are pleasant to

him, and on these sensations he dwells with enjoyment, thinking in his heart, "So long as I do not

commit the sinful act, I am free from sin." He does not know that his thoughts are causes the effects of

which are actions, and that there is no escape from sinful acts for him who dwells in sinful thoughts.

And so the process develops in his mind and blossoms into desire, and in the final moment of

temptation (which is but the moment of opportunity brought into prominence by that desire), with the

coveted object at his unreserved command, the fall of the man into sinful action is swift and certain.

3. Regeneration

Submit to naught but nobleness; rejoice

Like a strong athlete straining for the prize,

When thy full strength is tried; be not the slave

Of lusts and cravings and indulgences,

Of disappointments, miseries, and griefs,

Fears, doubts, and lamentations, but control

Thyself with calmness; master, that in thee

Which masters others, and which heretofore

Has mastered thee; let not thy passions rule,

But rule thy passions; subjugate thyself Till

passion is transmuted into peace,

And wisdom crown thee; so shalt thou attain

And, by attaining, know.

HAVING considered and examined the nature of temptation in its five interdependent stages, let us

now turn to the process of regeneration, and also consider its nature, so that the reader who has already

received some measure of enlightenment may be still further guided in his strenuous climbing towards

the Perfect Life.

The five stages in regeneration (already enumerated) are:—1. Reflection; 2. Introspection; 3. Self-

analysis; 4. Meditation; and 5. Pure Perception.

The first stage in a pure and true life is that of thoughtfulness. The thoughtless cannot enter the right

way in life. Only the reflective mind can acquire wisdom. When a man, ceasing to go after enjoyment,

brings himself to a standstill in order to examine his position, and to reflect upon the condition of the

world and the meaning of life, then he has entered upon the first stage of regeneration. When a man

begins to think seriously, and with a deep and noble purpose in view, he has stepped out of the broad

way where the thoughtless and the frivolous clutch at the bubbles of pleasure, and has entered the

narrow way where the thoughtful and the wise comprehend eternal verities. Such a man‘s liberation

from sin and suffering is already assured ; for though he is, as yet, surrounded by much uncertainty, he

is already realising a foretaste of the peace which awaits him; his passions, though still strong, are

quieter; his mind is calmer and clearer; his intercourse with others is purer and graver; and in his

moments of deepest thought he sees, as in a vision, the strength and calmness and wisdom which he

knows will one day be his well-earned possessions.

Thus he passes on to the second stage.

Reflecting day by day, with ever-increasing earnestness upon life in all its phases, he comes to perceive

the passions and desires in which men are involved, and realises the sorrows which are connected with

their strangely ephemeral existence. He sees the burning fevers of lusts and ambitions and cravings for

pleasure, and the chilling agues of anxieties and fears, and the uncertainty of slowly approaching death,

and he aspires to know the meaning of it all; is eager to find the source and cause of that seems so

sorrowful and inexplicable. Recognising himself as a unit in humanity, as one involved in like passions

and sorrows with all other men, he vaguely understands that somehow the secret of all life is inevitably

bound up with the neophyte, with mind purified, calmed, and his own existence, and so, unsatisfied

with the surface theories which are based on observation only, and which still leave him subject to

passions and sorrows, and the prey of anxieties and fears, he turns his thoughts inwardly upon his own

mind, thinking, perchance, that the wished-for revelation of wisdom and peace awaits him there. Thus

he becomes introspective, and so he passes on to the third stage.

When the introspective habit is fully ripened and acquired, there is called up in the mind a subtle

process of inductive thought by the aid of which the innermost recesses of the man‘s nature, and,

therefore, of all humanity, begin to unveil themselves, and yield up their secrets to the penetrating

insight of the patient searcher who, unravelling now the tangled threads of thought, and tracing out the

warp and woof of the web of life as it is woven in the mental processes and by the swift-flying shuttle

of thought, begins, for the first time, to somewhat clearly comprehend the inner causes of human deeds

and the meaning and purpose of existence. As this process of thought is proceeded with, the desires and

passions are purified away from the mind; the calmness necessary to a right perception of Truth is

acquired; and gradually the fixed principles of things are presented to the comprehension and the

eternal laws of life are coherently grasped by the understanding.

And now, quietly, and almost as imperceptibly as the soft light of dawn stealing upon the sleeping

world, controlled, passes into the fourth stage, and opens his long-sleeping eyes upon the rising light of

Truth. He becomes habitually meditative, and in meditation he finds the master-key which unlocks the

Door of Knowledge. It is at this advanced stage in the process of regeneration that the sinner becomes

the saint, and the pupil is transformed into the master ; for here the process of transmutation, hitherto

slow and painful, is greatly accelerated, so that the spiritual forces formerly spent in pleasures,

gratifications, passions, and afflictions are now conserved, controlled, and turned into channels of

productive and reproductive thought, and so wisdom is born in the mind, and bliss, and peace.

As skill and power are acquired in meditation, the fifth and last stage is reached, where the perfect

insight of the seer and the sage is evolved, so that the facts of life are grasped, and the laws and

principles of things stand revealed. Here the man is altogether regenerated, is purified and perfected ;

all human passions are conquered, and human sorrows transcended. Here things are seen as they are ;

all the intricacies of life stand out naked in the light of Truth, and there is no more doubt and perplexity,

no more sin and anguish ; for he whose pure and enlightened eyes perceive the hidden causes and

effects which operate infallibly in human life—he who knows how the bitter fruits of passion ripen,

and where the dark waters of sorrow spring—he it is who no more sins and no more sorrows. Lo ! he

has come to peace.

The five stages so passed through may be thus presented:

Ignorance—Sin ; Suffering.

1. Reflection. Deep and earnest thought on the nature and meaning of life.

2. Introspection. Looking inwardly, for the causes and effects which operate in life.

3. Self-analysis. Searching the springs of thought and purifying the motives in order to find

the truth of life.

4. Meditation. Pure and discriminative thought on the facts and principles of life.

5. Pure Perception. Insight. Direct knowledge of the laws of life.

Enlightenment—Purity ; Peace.

The whole process of regeneration may be likened to the growth of a plant. At first the small seed of

reflection is cast into the dark soil of ignorance ; then the little rootlets come forth and grope about for

light and sustenance (introspection); next the strenuous self-examination is as the plant reaching

upwards toward the light; and then the development of the bud and opening flower of meditation,

ending at last in that pure and wise insight which is the spiritual glory of the sage, the perfect flower of

enlightenment.

Thus beginning in sin and suffering, and passing through thoughtfulness, self-searching, self-

purification, meditation, and insight, the seeker after the pure life and the divine wisdom reaches at last

the undented habitation of a spotless life, and so passes beyond the dark halls of suffering, knowing the

perfect Law.

4. Actions and motives

Obey the Right,

And wrong shall ne‘er again assail thy peace,

Nor error hurt thee more: attune thy heart

To Purity, and thou shalt reach the

Place Where sorrow is not, and all evil ends.

It has been said that " the way to hell is paved with good intentions," and one frequently hears sin

excused on the ground that it was done with a "good motive."

There are actions which are bad-in-themselves, and there are actions which are good-in-themselves,

and good intentions cannot make the former good— selfish intentions cannot make the latter bad.

Foremost among actions which are bad-in- themselves are those which are classified as "criminal" by

all civilised communities. Thus murder, theft, adultery, libel, etc, are always bad, and it is not necessary

to inquire into the motive which prompts them. Black and white remain black and white to all eternity,

and are not altered by specious argumentations. A lie is eternally a lie, and no number of good

intentions can turn it into a truth. If a man tell a lie with a good intention, he has none the less uttered a

lie ; if a man speak the truth with a selfish intention, he has none the less spoken the truth.

Beside those actions above mentioned, there are others which, while not classified by the law of the

land as criminal, are yet recognised as wrong by nearly all intelligent people-actions pertaining to

social and family life, and to our everyday relations with our fellowmen. Thus when a child wilfully

violates its duty to its parents, the father does not stop to inquire into the motives of the child, but metes

out the due correction, because the act of disobedience is wrong-in-itself.

The reader may here ask, "In being taught, then, to regard the motive, the condition of heart, as all

important, and the act as secondary, have we been taught wrongly?" No, you have not. The motive is all

important, for it determines the nature of the act, and here we must distinguish between intentions and

motives. When people speak of good and bad motives, they nearly always mean good or bad

intentions— that is, the action is done with a certain object, good or bad, in view. The motive is the

deeply seated cause in the mind, the habitual condition of heart; the intention is the purpose in view.

Thus an act- may spring from an impure motive, yet be done with the best intention. It is possible for

one to be involved in wrong motives, and yet at the same time to be so charged with good intentions as

to be continually intruding himself on other people, and interfering in their business and their lives

under the delusion that they "need his help."

Intentions are more or less superficial, and are largely matters of impulse, while motives are more

deeply seated, and are concerned with a man‘s fixed moral condition. A man may do an action to-day

with a good intention, and in a few weeks‘ time do the same action with a bad intention; but in both

instances the motive underlying the action will be the same.

In reality a wrong act cannot spring from a right motive, although it may be guided by a good intention.

A man who can resort, whether habitually or under stress of temptation, to murder, theft, lying or other

actions known as bad, is in a dark, confused condition of mind, and is not capable of acting from right

motives. Such acts can only spring from an impure source; and this is why the Great Teachers rarely

refer to motives , but always refer to actions,. In their precepts they tell us what actions are bad and

what are good, without any reference to motive, for the bad and good acts-in-themselves are the fruits

of bad and good motives. "By their fruits you shall know them."

In being exhorted to "judge not," we are not taught to persuade ourselves that grapes are figs and figs

grapes, but must employ our judgment in clearly distinguishing between the two; so in like manner

must we distinguish with unmistakable clearness between bad actions and good actions, so as to avoid

the former and embrace the latter ; for only in this way can one purify his heart and render himself

capable of acting from right motives. A clear perception of what is bad or good, both in ourselves and

others, is not false judgment, it is wisdom. It is only when one harbours groundless suspicion about

others, and reads into their actions bad and selfish intentions, that he falls into that judging against

which we are warned, and which is so pernicious.

There is no need to doubt the good intentions of those about us, while, at the same time, being fully

alive to a knowledge of those bad actions which were better left undone, and those good actions which

were better done; taking care not to do the former, and to do the latter ourselves, thus teaching by our

lives instead of accusing and condemning others. Numberless wrong actions are committed every day

with good intentions ; and this is why so many good purposes are frustrated and end in disappointment,

because the underlying motive is impure, and the good fruit which is sought does not appear ; the act is

out of harmony with the good intent; the means are not adapted to the end. Bad actions, bring forth

bitter fruit; good actions bring forth sweet fruit.

The law runs, "Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not commit adultery"; not "Thou shalt

not kill, steal or commit adultery with a bad motive.

Wrong actions are always accompanied with self-delusion, and the chief form which such self-delusion

assumes is that of self-justification. If a man flatter himself that he can commit a sinful act, and yet be

free from sin because he is prompted by a "pure motive," no limit can be set to the evil which he may

commit.

It will be found that bad actions, in the majority of instances, arc accompanied with good intentions.

The object of the slanderer generally is to protect his fellow-men from one another. Troubled with

foolish suspicions, or smarting under the thought of injury, he warns men against each other, speaking

only of their bad qualities, and, in his eagerness, distorting the truth. His intention is good, namely, to

protect his neighbours; but his motive is bad, namely, hatred of those whom he slanders. Such a man‘s

good intention is frustrated by his bad action, and he at last only succeeds in separating himself from all

truth-loving people.

The sore of a bad action is not cured by plastering it over with good intentions, nor is the cause of the

defilement removed from the heart.

Men who are involved in bad actions cannot work from pure motives. An issue of foul water always

proceeds from an impure source; and an issue of impure actions proceeds from a heart that is defiled.

It greatly simplifies life, and solves all complex problems of conduct, when certain actions are

recognised as eternally bad, and others as eternally good, and the bad are for ever abandoned, and final

refuge is taken in the good.

The wise and good perform good actions ; and motive, act, and intention being harmoniously adjusted,

their lives are powerful for good, and free from disappointment, and the good fruit of their efforts

appears in due season. They do not need to defend their actions by subtle and specious arguments, not

to enter into interminable metaphysical speculations concerning motives; but are content to act and to

leave their actions to bear their own fruit.

Let us not try to persuade ourselves that our good intentions will wipe out the results of our bad

actions; but let us resort to the practice of good actions ; for only in this way can we acquire goodness;

only thus can the life be established on fixed principles, and the mind be rendered capable of

comprehending, and working from, pure motives.

5. Morality and religion

The wise man

By adding thought to thought and deed to deed

In ways of good, buildeth his character.

Little by little he accomplishes

His noble ends ; in quiet patience works

Diligently.

Daily he builds into his heart and mind

Pure thoughts, high aspirations, selfless deeds.

Until at last the edifice of Truth

Is finished, and behold ! there rises and appears

The Temple of Perfection.

There is no surer indication of confusion and decadence in spiritual matters than the severance of

morality from religion. "He is a highly moral man, but he is not religious"; "He is exceptionally |ood

and virtuous, but is not at all spiritual," are common expressions on the lips of large numbers of people

who thus regard religion as something quite distinct from goodness, purity, and right-living.

If religion be regarded merely and only as worship combined with adherence to a particular form of

faith, then it would be correct to say, "He is a very good man, but is not religious," in some instances,

just as it would be equally correct to say, "He is an immoral man, but is very religious," in other

instances, for murderers, thieves, and other evil-doers are sometimes devout worshippers and zealous

adherents to a creed.

Such a narrowing down of religion, however, would‘ render much of the Sermon on the Mount

superfluous, from a religious point of view, and would lead to the confounding of the means of religion

with its end, the idolising of the letter of religion to the exclusion of the spirit; and this is what actually

occurs when morality is severed from religion, and is regarded as something alien and distinct from it.

Religion, however, has a broader significance than this, and the most obscure creed embodies in its

ritual some longing human cry for that goodness, that virtue, that morality, which many, with

thoughtless judgement, divorce from religion. And is not a life of moral excellence, of good and noble

character, of pure-heartedness, the very end and object of religion ? Is it not the substance and spirit, of

which worship and adherence to a form of faith are but the shadow and letter ?

In religion, as in other things, there are the means and the end, the methods and the attainment.

Worship, beliefs about God, adherence to creeds—these are some of the means ; goodness, virtue,

morality—these are the end. The methods are many and Various, and they are embodied in countless

forms of faith; but the end is one—it is moral grandeur !

Thus the moral man, far from being irreligious because he. may not openly profess some form of

worship, possesses the substance of religion, diffuses its spirit, has attained its end ; and when the sweet

Kernel of religion is found and enjoyed, the shell, protective and necessary in its place, has served its

purpose, and may be dispensed with.

Let not this, however, be misunderstood. The "moral" man does not refer to one who has only the

outward form of morality, appearing moral in the eyes of the world, but keeping his vices secret; nor

does it refer to him whose morality extends only to legal limits; nor to those who are proud of their

morality—for pride is the reverse of moral—but to those who delight in purity, who are gracious,

gentle, unselfish, and thoughtful, who, being good at heart, pour forth the fragrance of pure thoughts

and good deeds. By the "moral" is meant the good, the pure, the noble, and the true-hearted.

A man may call himself Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Mohammedan, Hindu—or by any other name—and

be immoral ; but if one is pure-hearted, if he is true and noble and beautiful in character—in a word, if

he is moral—then he is an inhabitant of the "Holy City" in which, there is "no temple"; he is, by

example and influence, a regenerator of mankind; he is one of the company of the Children of Light.

6. Memory, repetition, and habit

I shall gain.

By purity and strong self-mastery,

The awakened vision that doth set men free

From painful slumber and the night of grief.

When a particular combination of words has been repeated a number of times, it is said to have been

committed to memory—that is, it can then be repeated without visual reference to the words

themselves, and without pause or effort; indeed, the words have then a tendency to repeat themselves in

the mind, and sometimes people are troubled with the ringing of a refrain, or the repetition of a

sentence in the mind, which they find it very difficult to get rid of and forget.

There is a sense in which the whole of life is a process of committing to memory. At first there is act,

from act springs experience, from experience arises recollection, from recollection repetition, and from

repetition is formed habit; hence proceeds impulse, faculty, character, individualised existence.

Life is a repetition of the same things over again. There is very little difference between the days and

years in the life of a man ; one is almost entirely a repetition of the other. Every being is an

accumulation of experiences gathered, learnt, and woven into the life by a ceaseless series of

repetitions extending over an incalculable number of lives which thread their way through eons of time.

The life of a man, from the germ-cell to maturity, is a repetition, in synthesis, of the entire process of

evolution. There is a cosmic memory at the root of all growth and progress, which is an informing and

sustaining principle in the process of evolution.

The sensuous memory of man is fickle and ephemeral, but the supersensuous memory which is

inherent in all matter, building up forms and faculty is infallible in its reproduction of experiences.

Life is ceaseless reiteration. Nature ever travels over old and familiar ground. Man is daily repeating

that which he has learnt though: the schools of experience in which the lessons were acquired may be

long forgotten; but the acquired habit is not forgotten; it is carried forward and continues to act. The

unconscious and automatic ease which marks the play of faculty is not the ready-made mechanism of

an arbitrary creator; it is skill acquired by practice ; it is the consummation of millions of repetitions of.

the same thought and act.

Thoughts and deeds long persisted in become at last spontaneous impulses.

It is a profound truth that "there is nothing new under the sun." It is possible and highly probable that,

in the round of eternity, even all our modern inventions and mechanical marvels have been produced

innumerable times on this or other worlds. In this world, new combinations of matter appear from time

to time, but are they new in the universe ? Who dare say that, in the mind which overarches eternity, the

cosmic memory is not reproducing things long since fashioned out of itself ?

Nothing can be added to, or taken from, the universe. Its matter can neither be increased nor decreased.

Chemical combinations of matter vary, but matter itself cannot vary. Life likewise does not change. In

the forms of life there is continuous flux, but in the principle of life there is no increase or diminution.

Forms come forth only to retreat and disappear ; but that which disappears is not lost ; the memory of it

is retained, and it continues to be repeated. Eternal disintegration is balanced by eternal restitution.

The mind of man is not separate from the Eternal Mind ; in its daily repetitions is indelibly written the

record of all its past. Character is an accumulation of deeds. Each man is the last reckoning in the long

sum of evolution, and there is no falsification of the account. The mind continues to automatically

perform the habit which encloses a million repetitions of the same deed. Compared with this

ineffaceable, unconscious memory, the memory of three score years and ten is as a fading vapour to an

Egyptian Pyramid. The tendencies, impulses, and habits of which a man is a victim are the repetitions

of his accumulated deeds. They enfold the destiny which he has wrought. The grace, goodness, and

genius which a man exhibits without conscious effort are the fruits of the accumulated labours of his

mind. He repeats with ease that which was learned by painful labour. The wise man sees a reflection of

himself in the fate which overtakes him.

Life flows in channels. Every man is in a rut. Men tell their fellows to "get out of their ruts," but they

themselves are in ruts of another kind. The flow of law, of nature, cannot be avoided, but it can be

utilised. We cannot avoid ruts, but we can avoid bad ones ; we can follow along good ones.

In their training and education, the children of to-day are strictly confined to ways which are worn by

the feet of a thousand generations. In his fixed habits and characteristics, the man of to-day is reviving

the actions of a thousand lives.

It is true that men are bound; but it is equally true that they can unbind. The law by which a man

becomes the sorrowful victim of his own wrong deeds is a blessed, and not a cursed, law; for by the

same law he can become the instrument of all that is good. Habits chain a man, but he himself forged

the links. He whose inner eye has opened to perceive the law does not complain. The bondage of evil is

a heavy slavery, but the bondage of good is a blessed service.

The will of man is powerless to alter the law of life, but it is powerful to obey it. The Great Law makes

for good ; it puts a heavy penalty on evil. Man can break his chains, and shake himself free; and when

he enters earnestly upon the work of self-liberation, all the universe will be with him in his labour.

Repetition and habit he cannot avoid, but he can set going repetitions that are harmonious, he can form

habits that will crystallise into pure and noble characteristics.

In the self-built archives of the mind are stored away the entire records of man‘s evolution. Man is an

epitomised history of the world. In his outbursts of rage we hear again the roar of the lion in the forest;

in his selfish schemings to secure his coveted ends we see the tiger stalking its prey; his lusts, revenges,

hatreds, and fears are the instinct born of primeval experiences. The universe does not forget; life

remembers and restores.

Between the sensuous and the supersensuous worlds is the Lethean stream, the river of forgetfulness.

Only he who has passed into the supersensuous world—the world of pure goodness—remembers with

the Memory of Life which transcends a million deaths. Only he whose will obeys the Universal Will,

whose heart is,in harmony with the Cosmic Order, receives the vision which pierces through the vale of

time and matter, and sees the before and the beyond.

Man quickly forgets, and it is well that he forgets; the universe remembers and records. The repetition

of an evil deed is its own retribution ; the repetition of a good deed is its own reward. The deepest

punishment of evil is evil; the highest reward of good is good. When a deed is done, it is not ended; it is

but begun ; it remains with the doer—to curse him, if evil; to bless him, if good. Deeds accumulate by

repetition, and they remain as character, and in character is both curse and blessing.

Suffering inheres in the discordant repetition of evil; bliss inheres in the rhythmic repetitions of good.

Seeing that we cannot escape the law of repetition, let us choose to do those things which are good ;

and as one establishes habits of purity, the divine memory will be awakened within him.

7. Words and wisdom

I would find

Where Wisdom is, where Peace abides, where Truth,

Majestic, changeless, and eternal, stands

Untouched by the illusions of the world;

For surely there is Knowledge, Truth, and Peace

For him who seeks.

Thoughts, words, acts—these combine to make up the entire life of every individual. Words and acts

are thoughts expressed. We think in words. In the process of thinking, words are stored up in the

consciousness, where they await expression and use as occasion may call them forth.

Words fit the mind which received them; they are the tally of the intellect which uses them. The meaner

the mind, the more meagre is the vocabulary. A limited and a capacious intellect alike expresses itself

through a limited and an extensive use of words. A great mind expresses itself by the vehicle of flowing

and noble language.

Words stand for conceptions. Conceptions are embodied in words. At the moment that a conception is

formed in the mind, its corresponding word arises in the thought. Conceptions and words cannot be

hidden away indefinitely. Sooner or later they will come forth into the outer world of expression. The

matter of the universe is in ceaseless circulation. Its hidden things are continuously coming forth into

open and visible life. Likewise the mental operations of men are ever in active circulation, and their

hidden thoughts are daily expressing themselves in words and acts. The words and actions of every

man are determined by the thoughts in which he habitually dwells.

Speech is audible thought. A man reveals him. self through his speech. Whether he is pure or impure,

foolish or vice, he makes his inner condition known through his speech. The foolish man is known by

the way in which he talks ; the wise man is known by the purity, gravity, and excellence of his speech.

"He who would gain a knowledge of men." says Confucius, "must first learn to understand the meaning

of words "

All wise men, saints, and great teachers have declared that the first step in wisdom is to control the

tongue. The disciple of speech is a mental disciple. When a man controls his tongue, he controls his

mind; when he purifies his speech, he purifies his mind. Speech and mind cannot be separated. They

are two aspects of character.

A man may read Scripture, study religions, and practise mystical arts; but if he allows his tongue to run

loosely, he will be as foolish at the end of all his labours as he was at the beginning.

A man may not read Scripture, nor study religions, nor practise ascetic arts ; but if he controls his

tongue, and studies how to speak wisely and well, he will become wise.

Wisdom is perceived in the words which are its expression. We speak of certain men—of Shakespeare

for instance—as being wise. We never saw Shakespeare, and we know very little of his life; how, then,

do we know he was wise ? By his words only. Where there are wise words, we know there is a wise

mind. A foolish man may, like a parrot, repeat wise words, but a wise man frames wise sentences ; his

wisdom is shown in originally expressed language.

Why do men speak of words as being bad or good, degrading or inspiring, low or lofty, weak or strong?

Is it not because they, unconsciously recognise that words cannot be dissociated from thoughts ? Why

do pure-minded people avoid a man who habitually uses impure language ? Is is not because they know

that such words proceed from an unclean mind ?

It is impossible for any being to give utterance to words which are not already lodged in his mind fit the

form of thought. The impure mind cannot speak pure words; the pure mind cannot speak impure words.

The ignorant cannot speak learnedly, nor the learned ignorantly. The foolish man cannot speak wisely,

nor the wise foolishly.

Altered speech follows an altered mind. When a man turns from evil to good, his conversation becomes

cleansed. As a man increases in wisdom, he watches, modifies, and perfects his speech.

If the foolish and the wise are known by their words, what, then, is the speech of folly, and what the

language of wisdom?

A man is foolish:

If he talks aimlessly and incoherently. If he engages in impure conversations. If he utters falsehood. If

he speaks ill of the absent, and carries about

evil reports concerning others.

If he frames flattering words.

If he utters violent and abusive words.

If his speech is irreverent, and

his words are directed against the great and good.

If he speaks in praise of himself.

A man is wise:

If he talks with purpose and intelligence.

If his conversation is chaste.

If he utters words of sincerity and truth.

If he speaks well of and in defence of, the absent.

If he speaks words of virtuous reproof.

If his speech is gentle and kindly.

If he talks reverently of the great and good.

If he speaks in praise of others.

We are all, now and always, justified and condemned by our words. The law of Truth is not held in

abeyance, and every day is judgement day. For "every idle word" which one speaks he is at once

‘‘called to account" in an immediate and certain loss of happiness and influence. By the words which

we habitually utter we publish to the universe the degree of our intelligence and the standard of our

morality, and receive back through them the judgement of the world. The fool thinks he is harshly

judged and badly treated by others, not knowing that his real scourge is his own ungoverned tongue.

To control the tongue, to discipline the speech, to strive for the use of purer and gentler words—this is

a very lowly thing, and one that is much despised ; but it cannot be neglected by him who eagerly

aspires to walk the way of wisdom.

8. Truth made manifest

Upon the lofty Summits of the Truth

Where clouds and darkness are not, and where rests

Eternal Splendour; there, abiding Joy

Awaits thy coming.

Be watchful, fearless, faithful, patient, pure:

By earnest meditation sound the depths

Profound of life, and scale the heights sublime

Of Love and Wisdom.

Truth is rendered visible through the media of deeds. It is something seen and not heard. Words do not

contain the Truth; they only symbolise it. Good deeds are the only vessels which contain Truth.

It has been frequently said that being must precede doing. Being always does precede doing ; but being;

and doing cannot be arbitrarily separated. A man‘s deeds are the expression of himself. Acts are the

language of Reality. If a man‘s inner being is allied to Truth, his deeds will speak it forth; if with error,

his deeds will make manifest that error.

No man can hide what he is. He must necessarily act, and every time he acts he reveals himself.

In the light of Reality no man can deceive humanity or the universe; but he can deceive himself.

Deeds of purity, love, gentleness, patience, humility, compassion, and wisdom are Truth made manifest.

These qualities cannot be contained between the covers of a book, but only the words which refer to

them; they are Life.

Deeds of impurity, hatred, anger, pride, vanity, and folly are error making itself known. A man‘s deeds

are the publication of himself to the world.

Truth cannot be comprehended through reading, but only by correcting and converting one‘s self.

Precepts are aids to the acquirement of wisdom, but wisdom is acquired only by practice.

If a man would know what measure of Truth he possesses, he should ask himself, "What am I ? What

are my deeds ?"

Men dispute about words, thinking that Truth is heard and read. Truth is neither heard nor read ; it is

seen.

Good deeds are the visible embodiments of Truth; they are messengers of Knowledge; angels of

Wisdom; but the eye of error is dark, and cannot see them.

9. Spiritual humility

Who would be the companion of the wise,

And know the Cosmic Splendour; he must stoop

Who seeks to stand; must fall who fain would rise ;

Must know the low, ascending to the high;

He who would know the Great must not disdain

To diligently wait upon the small;

He wisdom finds who finds humility,

Throughout the Sacred Scriptures of all religions there runs, like a silver thread, the teaching of

Humility. Not only all the Scriptures, but the sages of all time have declared that only through the

portal of humility is it possible for man to enter into the possession of the Life of Truth; and as that life

is entirely of a spiritual Nature, so the humility that leads to it is purely and absolutely spiritual; and

being such, it can never be materialised, can never be embodied in a dogma, or laid down as a formula.

It is not an outward thing, nor does it consist of that practice of self-abasement that has usurped its

name.

But priests have taught, and many have been led to believe, that self-depreciation is true humility, while

in reality it is its extreme antithesis. Self-depreciation is self-degradation; may, it is even a sort of self-

destruction, it is spiritual suicide. The man who believes that all his righteousness is as filthy rags, that

there is no good thing in him, and that he can never rise by any effort of his own, is by that very

attitude of his mind, rendering himself impotent; he is strangling the Spirit; he is undermining and

disintegrating all that is highest and noblest in his character. Instead of building up his character he is

engaged in despoiling it. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he"; what our thoughts are, such are our

characters. We are in reality beings composed of thoughts; thoughts are the bricks which we are

continually laying down in the building of our souls. If we put a large percentage of rotten bricks into

the building, we shall build but a miserable hovel, and every self-depreciating thought is a brick that is

already crumbling. It will be found to be a rule marvellously accurate in its application that those who

continually live in this attitude of self-depreciation are throughout life, or, at any rate, until they strike a

nobler attitude, wretched failures. I can bring to my mind many such men that I have known. How can

it be otherwise ? How can a man who has no faith in himself ever win the confidence of others, or

accomplish anything worthy ? Moreover such a man has not, cannot possibly have, any faith in human

nature; despising himself, he despises all ; and as a result, by the unerring law of cause and effect, all

men despise him. Yet it is a strange fact that the men who maintain this faith-destroying attitude of

mind invariably profess to have the greatest faith in God ; yea, look upon it as an infallible witness to

their superior spiritual faith. But I ask this question, Does not true faith, like true charity, begin at

home? In the growth of the soul faith in one‘s self comes first, next faith in human nature, and finally

faith in God. That faith which professes to have the latter to the exclusion of the two former is false

faith, the outcome of fake humility.

Another kind of false humility is that of personal abasement to an individual or to established

authority. This is humility materialised or subverted. It is the worship of Dagon, the bowing of the knee

to Baal, the slavish adoration of the Golden Calf. No man can persist in it without undermining his

character, and ultimately dissipating his spiritual and mental energies. Humility to man or to any

temporal authority is degrading and slavish ; humility to the Most High is grandly beautiful.

Spiritual humility is closely allied to faith, and the more there is of humility the more there is of faith. It

is the key-note of all real greatness. In proof of this I have only to refer to the great sages, saints, and

reformers of all time. The greatest of them are those who had the greatest share of spiritual humility.

True humility, as distinguished from false, has a strengthening power, an upbuilding force. It inspires

and invigorates the soul, spurring is to greater and ever greater endeavour.

Of what, then, does this humility consist ? Is it the bending of the knee to ask personal favours of Deity

? Is it the blind petitioning of God to accomplish for us our petty and narrow designs? Nay, these are its

counterfeits. True humility is far above and. beyond all this. It is the deepest and holiest aspiration of

the human heart, where deep within, hidden from all sacrilegious gaze, it works, a silent mighty power,

purifying, transforming, the man of flesh and self; entering its solitary grandeur, the alienated soul

returns to the foot-stool of its God, and bathes, in blissful rapture, in the light of His all-embracing

Love. It is a state that can only be entered into by rising above one‘s lower self. It is in fact the

submergence of the self in the non-self; the submission of passion and intellect to the Supreme; it is the

attitude of a human soul adoring its highest conception.

Such humility takes its possessor above all that is mean and poor in his nature, into the very presence of

God, making him calm, strong, noble, self-reliant, and Godlike. It is the Wine of Life to all aspiring

souls. The soul that has not felt its power is dead.

It may sound like a paradox, but it is nevertheless true, that the more a man has of humility the more he

has of independence. But the seeming paradox will be made clear if we think for a moment of the lives

of such teachers of humility as Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Jacob Boehme, George Fox, and

indeed of all the great religious reformers. These men walked erect, because, yielding themselves up to

the simplicity‘ of humility, they walked with God.

The humility that causes a man to go, metaphorically speaking, on all fours is spurious, and is as

debasing and destructive as the real humility is elevating and strengthening. Why should we go anongst

our fellows like cringing, fearful beasts, calling ourselves miserable sinners ? Shall we ever rise above

sin by so doing ? Is it possible to rise by ceaselessly contemplating our absolute unworthiness? No, we

can only rise by continually contemplating the Highest. There may be much that is unworthy in a man‘s

heart, but there is also a sacredness, a dignity, a divinity about it; let us dwell upon that. Let us

continually contemplate the goodness, the purity, and the essential beauty of human nature, Let us

ceaselessly search for the Divinity in our own souls, and, finding it through the door of humility, we

shall then recognise the invisible God in all men. By so doing, we rise above the binding limitations of

our selfish desires, and enter the larger, healthier, holier life of Love.

10. Spiritual strength

All things are holy to the holy mind,

All uses are legitimate and pure,

All occupations blest and sanctified,

And every day a Sabbath.

A clear and firm head must precede and accompany a clean and gentle heart. Without the first the

second is impossible, for the qualities of purity and gentleness can only be reached through a clear

perception of right and wrong, and by the exercise of an irresistible will. The strength of a powerful

animal, or of that animal force in man which enables him to gain the victory over others by attack and

resistance, is weakness compared with that quiet, patient, invincible will by which a man overcomes

himself, and tames to obedience, and trains to the service of holy purposes, the savage passions of his

nature.

Every dog can bark and fight, and every foolish man can rail, abuse, fence with hard words, and give

way to fits of bad temper; these things are easy and natural to him, and require no effort and no

strength. But the wise man puts away all such follies, and trains himself in self-control—trains himself

to act unerringly from fixed principles, and not from the fleeting impulses of an unstable nature.

He who succeeds in so training himself is able to train others, in a small degree by precept, but largely

and chiefly by practice or example, for it is pre-eminently the prerogative of the wise to teach by their

actions. The mockeries of Herod, the accusations of tie people, and the fanatical persecutions of the

priests all failed to draw from Jesus the word of complaint, bitterness, or self-defence. Such sublime

acts of silence and self-control continue to reach, for ages, both individuals and nations, with far greater

power and effect than all the words and books uttered and written by the world‘s vast army of priests

and learned commentators.

To retaliate and fight belongs to the animal in man as it belongs to the beast of the forest ; but to refuse

to be swayed from the practice of a divine principle by any external pressure—to stand firm and

unalterable in goodness and truth alike amid blame and praise—this belongs to the divine in man and in

the universe.

To alter one‘s conduct in order to please others, or to avoid their censure or misunderstanding can never

lead to spiritual strength.

That divine kindness which always accompanies spiritual understanding and strength is something very

different from merely saying pleasant words—for pleasant words are not always true words—but

consist in doing what is best for the eternal welfare of the other person or persons.

The weak father, who is unfit to train children only considers how he can escape trouble with his

children, and so he slurs over their acts of disobedience and selfishness, and tries to please them. But

the strong father, who considers the future character and welfare of his children, knows how and when

to administer a severe reproof ; fully understanding that the few minutes‘ pain caused by his rebuke

may save his child from years of suffering as a result of loose living which is fostered by parental

neglect. The strong, kind, unselfish father, whose care is for his children‘s good, and not for his own

immediate comfort, knows not only how to be tender in affection, but tender in discipline, knows how

to stretch out the strong and (to the child at the time) severe arm of restraint to save his little ones when

they would ignorantly wander away in wrong paths.

So the man of spiritual strength cannot be merely a weak framer of smooth words, but a doer of right

actions, an utterer of words that are vital and true, and, therefore, eternally kind.

The spiritually weak man shrinks from right when it is brought (as by its nature it must be brought) in

opposition to his desires, and he embraces sin because it is pleasant. The spiritually strong man shrinks

from sin, more especially when it is presented to him in a pleasant garb, and embraces right, even

though by so doing he will bring upon himself the odium of those who are ignorant of divine principles

and their beneficent application.

The man of spiritual understanding is as unbending as a bar of steel where right is concerned, knowing

that right alone is good ; he is as unresisting as water where self is concerned, knowing that self alone

is evil. Acting from imperishable principles and not from the fleeting desires of self, his actions partake

of the imperishable nature of the principles from which they spring, and continue to afford instruction

and inspiration through unnumbered generations.

It is always the portion of one who so acts to be misunderstood. The majority live in their desires and

impulses, following them blindly as they are brought into operation by external stimuli, and do not

understand what is meant by acting dispassionately from right and fixed principles, with entire freedom

from self interest. Such will necessarily misunderstand and misjudge the right-doer, regarding him as

cold and cruel in his unbending adherence to right, or as weak, cowardly in his quiet refusal to

passionately defend himself. He will, therefore, "be accused of many things", but this will not cause

him any suffering, nor will he be troubled or disturbed thereby, for the truth which he practises is a

source of perpetual joy, and he will be at rest in the knowledge that there are those who will understand

and follow,‘ that he is working for the ultimate good even of his accusers; and that by manifesting the

truth in his daily actions, he is in the company of those divinely strong ones who are leading the world

into ways of quietness and peace.

Through the Gates of Good, or Christ and

Conduct. By James Allen.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. The Gate and the Way

3. The Law and the Prophets

4. The Yoke and the Burden

5. The Word and the Doer

6. The Vine and the Branches

7. Salvation This Day

Introduction

THE genius of the present age in matters spiritual is towards simplicity, and the hunger of the human

heart is for Truth naked and uninvolved. That hunger will eventually bring about (is already bringing

about) its own satisfaction, and here and there are men and women who, passing through the Gateway

of Self-conquest, are entering into possession of the Transcendent Righteousness.

The closing years of the nineteenth century witnessed the culmination of Formalism, and the spiritual

reaction is now firmly established. Already "the end of old faiths and beginning of the new" is

discernible to all who have removed from their mental vision somewhat of the textual dust of dying

creeds, and have penetrated, however faintly, that sublime region of Truth which is discoverable only

by practice, and which is made manifest by pure thoughts and holy deeds.

The universal decay of effete religious systems which the world is witnessing today is matter for

rejoicing; it is the death which precedes Life; it is the passing away of the false in order that the True

may be more fully revealed. The True can, at worst, but remain hidden. It endures. It remains forever.

Its invincibility cannot be qualified, and he who has but one momentary glimpse of the True can never

again be anxious for its safety. That about which men are anxious is the false, which they mistake for

the True, and this, in spite of all their anxiety, must fade away at last.

In the lives of all the Great Teachers we see a manifestation of that Universal Truth, the majesty and

splendor of which is as yet but dimly comprehended by mankind, but which must, during the gradual

transformation and transmutation which the accumulating ages shall effect, at last become the

possession of all. That Truth, as manifested by the Teachers, was written by them, as it only can be

written, in thoughts and deeds of the loftiest moral excellence which have been permanently impressed

upon the mind of mankind by their embodiment in preceptial form. It is to the sweet lives and inspiring

words of these mighty Teachers that the eyes of a hungering and thirsty world are again being turned,

and the Light of Life is being lighted up, the world over, in hearts that are ready to attune themselves to

the Eternal Song of Love and Peace. What religions have failed to do, Religion will accomplish; what

the Priest has obscured, the Spirit of Truth in the heart of man will make plain, and the world is now

finding spiritual healing and refreshment in turning away from traditional and historic accretions, and

going back to the pure Fountain of Truth as revealed to them so simply, clearly and beautifully by their

blameless Teachers, and which had its inexhaustive spring within themselves.

To aid men and women (more particularly those in Christian countries) more speedily to find this

abiding Truth, these articles, setting forth the life and precepts of Jesus, were written. Formalism and

self were heavy burdens to carry, and in directing the minds of men to blamelessness of conduct and

purity of heart, I know I can leave the result with the Supreme Law, and that there are those who will

read and, having read, will pass from the burdensome complexities of ignorance and formalism to the

joyful simplicity of Enlightenment and Truth.

James Allen.

1. The Gate And The Way

Strait is the Gate, and narrow is the Way, which leadeth unto Life, and few there be that

find it.

Jesus

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things.

Jesus

The supreme aim of all religions is to teach men how to live; and the learning and the living are

religion itself. The purification of the human heart, the building up of a blameless life, and the

perfecting of the soul, these are the great underlying and enduring factors in all religions and creeds the

world over. That which is vital in every religion is the striving after, and the practice of, Goodness; all

things else are accretions, superfluities, illusions. Goodness — and by Goodness I mean sinlessness —

is the beautiful and imperishable form of Religion, but creeds and religions are the perishable garments,

woven of the threads of opinion, in which men clothe it. One after another religions come and go, but

Religion, being Life itself, endures forever. Let men cease to quarrel over the garments and strive to

perceive the universality and beauty of the indwelling form; thus will they become wedded to it, will

become one with the supreme Goodness. Religion is Goodness; Goodness is Religion.

We know nothing higher than Goodness. We can conceive of nothing more beautiful than Goodness.

Beholding the Perfect Goodness, men call it God. Seeing that Goodness practiced by man, men

worship him as God.

We behold Jesus as a sinless man; in him is the Perfect Goodness revealed, not obscurely and

metaphysically, but in all his words and deeds; and it is by virtue of his sinlessness that he is accepted

as an Examplar and universal Teacher.

The Teachers of mankind are few. A thousand years may pass by without the advent of such a one; but

when the True Teacher does appear, the distinguishing feature by which he is known is his life. His

conduct is different from that of other men, and his teaching is never derived from any man or book,

but from his own life. The Teacher first lives, and then teaches others how they may likewise live. The

proof and witness of his teaching is in himself, his life. Out of millions of preachers, one only is

ultimately accepted by mankind as the true Teacher, and the one who is thus accepted and exalted is he

who lives. All the others are mere disquisitionaries and commentators, and as such they rapidly pass out

of human ken.

Jesus, the Teacher, lived, in all its perfection, and in the face of the most adverse conditions, the divine

life of Love; he pursued the true life of Goodwill, as distinguished from the false life of self-seeking,

which the majority elect to follow. In him there was no element of selfishness, all his thoughts, words

and acts being prompted by the spirit of Love. To this spirit of Love he so entirely subjected his

personality that he became one with it, so much so that he literally became Divine Love personified.

His complete victory over the personality was accomplished by obedience to the Divine Law of Love

within himself, by virtue of which he became divine, and his whole teaching is to the effect that all who

practice the same obedience will realize the same divine Life, will become consciously divine.

The unalterable meekness, undying compassion, sweet forgiveness, and unending love and patience of

Jesus are the themes of a thousand hymns, the subject of millions of heartfelt prayers; and this is so

because those qualities are recognized everywhere and by all men as being distinctively divine. To

make the practice of these qualities the chief object of life constitutes Religion! to deny them, and to

continue to live in their selfish opposites — pride, condemnation, harshness, hatred, and anger —

constitutes irreligion.

Men everywhere, in their inmost hearts though they may deny it argumentatively, know that Goodness

is divine; and Jesus is worshipped as God, not for any claim he made, nor because of any miraculous

circumstance connected with his life, but because he never departed from the Perfect Goodness, the

Faultless Love. "God is Love," Love is God. Man knows no God except Love manifesting in the

human heart and life in the form of stainless thoughts, blameless words, and deeds of gentle pity and

forgiveness, and he can only know this God in the measure that he has realized Love in his own heart

by self-subjugation. The God which forms the subject of theological argument, and whose existence or

non-existence men are so eager to prove, is the God of hypothesis and speculation. He who, by

overcoming self, has found, dwelling within him, the Supreme Love, knows what that Love is far

beyond the reach of all selfish argument, and can only be lived; and he lives, leaving vain argument to

those who will not come up higher.

Having by obedience, entered into full possession of the Divine Life, Jesus gave to the world certain

spiritual rules, by the observance of which all men could become sons of God, could live the Perfect

Life. These rules or precepts are so simple, direct, and unmistakable that it is impossible to

misunderstand them. So plain and unequivocal are they that even an unlettered child could grasp their

meaning without difficulty. All of them are directly related to human conduct and can be applied only

by the individual in his own life. To carry out the spirit of these rules in one‘s daily conduct constitutes

the whole duty of life, and lifts the individual into the full consciousness of his divine origin and nature,

of his oneness with God, the Supreme Good. It is here, however, where the difficulty arises, for,

although there are millions of men and women worshipping Jesus as God in a miraculous or

metaphysical sense, there are really very few who believe in his precepts, and who attempt to carry

them out in their life. In the precepts themselves there can be no difficulty or misunderstanding; all this

lies in the unbelief of those who read the precepts. Men do not carry out the precepts of Jesus because

they do not believe it possible to do so, and so they never try; whilst there are others who, believing it

possible and necessary to carry them out, are not willing to make the personal sacrifices which those

precepts demand. Yet, apart from the earnest striving to live out the teachings of Jesus there can be no

true life. To merely call Jesus "Lord" does not constitute discipleship, but to weave his words into the

fabric of one‘s life, to put into execution his divine and selfperfecting precepts, this, and this only,

constitutes discipleship.

Let it be understood thus early that with the almost innumerable creeds which have been built upon the

Hebrew Scriptures, I have absolutely nothing to do. I have to do entirely with the life and teaching of

Jesus, and with the vital realities in the human heart to which that teaching is directed. I have to do with

Goodness, not with speculation; with Love, not with theological theories; with self-perfection, not with

fleeting opinions.

Jesus was a supremely good man; this all men know, and to know this is allembracing and all

sufficient. He has left precepts which, if a man will guide his conduct by them, will lead him unerringly

to the Supreme Goodness; to know this is gladdening and glorious.

A good man is the flower of humanity, and to daily grow purer, nobler, more Godlike, by overcoming

some selfish tendency, is to be continually drawing nearer to the Divine Heart. "He that would be my

disciple let him deny himself daily," is a statement which none can misunderstand or misapply,

howsoever he may ignore it. Nowhere in the universe is there any substitute for Goodness, and until a

man has this, he has nothing worthy or enduring. To the possession of Goodness there is only one way,

and that is, to give up all and everything that is opposed to Goodness. Every selfish desire must be

eradicated; every impure thought must be yielded up; every clinging to opinion must be sacrificed; and

it is in the doing of this that constitutes the following of Christ. That which is above all creeds, beliefs

and opinions is a loving and self-sacrificing heart. The life of Jesus is a demonstration of this truth, and

all His teaching is designed to bring about this holy and supreme consummation.

To dwell in love always and towards all is to live the true life, is to have Life itself. Jesus so lived, and

all men may so live if they will humbly and faithfully carry out his precepts. So long as they refuse to

do this, clinging to their desires, passions and opinions, they cannot be ranked as his disciples; they are

the disciples of self. "Verily, verily, I say unto you: whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin," is

the searching declaration of Jesus. Let men cease to delude themselves with the belief that they can

retain their bad tempers, their lusts, their harsh words and judgments, their personal hatreds, their petty

contentions and darling opinions, and yet have Christ. All that divides man from man, and man from

Goodness is not of Christ, for Christ is Love.

To continue to commit sin is to be a doer of sin, a follower of self, and not a doer of righteousness and

a follower of Christ. Sin and Christ cannot dwell together, and he who accepts the Christ life of pure

Goodness, ceases from sin. To follow Christ means to give up all, in our mind and conduct, that

antagonizes the spirit of Love, and this, we shall find as we proceed, necessitates complete self-

surrender, refusing to harbor any thought that is not pure, compassionate and gentle. The Christ-spirit

of Love puts an end, not only to all sin, but to all division and contention. If I contend for an opinion,

say, about the divinity of Jesus Christ, against the opinion of another as to his non-divinity, I at once

create division and strife, and depart from the Christ, the spirit of Love. When Christ is disputed about,

Christ is lost.

It is no less selfish and sinful to cling to opinion than to cling to impure desire. Knowing this, the good

man gives up himself unreservedly to the spirit of Love, and dwells in Love towards all, contending

with none, condemning none, hating none, but loving all, seeing behind their opinions, their creeds and

their sins, into their striving, suffering and sorrowing hearts. "He that loveth his life shall lose it."

Eternal Life belongs to him who will obediently relinquish his petty, narrowing, sin-loving,

strifeproducing personal self, for only by so doing can he enter into the large, beautiful, free and

glorious life of abounding Love. Herein is the Path of Life; for the strait Gate is the Gate of Goodness,

and the narrow Way is the Way of Renunciation, or selfsacrifice. So strait is the Gate that no sin can

pass through, and so narrow is the Way that he who essays to walk it can take with him no selfish

thought as his companion.

2. The Law And The Prophets

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to

them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus

If thou wilt enter info life; keep the Commandments

Jesus

The commandments and precepts of Jesus were given to men to be kept. This is so simple and self-

evident a truth that there ought to be no necessity to state it; yet, after the precepts of Jesus have been

before the world for nearly nineteen hundred years, this necessity not only exists, but is very great, so

widespread is the belief that the tasks embodied in the precepts are not only utterly impracticable, but

altogether impossible of human accomplishment. This disbelief in the possibility of carrying out the

divine commands is the primary delusion, due to ignorance, in which men are caught, and it is

impossible for any man to comprehend spiritual things until he destroys it.

The words of Jesus are the direct outcome of an intimate knowledge of divine Law, and his every

utterance is in harmonious relationship with the Eternal Substance. This a man finds as he molds the

spiritual life contained in those words into his own life — that is, as he succeeds in living the precepts.

Let us now examine these precepts, and see how they are to be carried out, and what they imply and

involve. Most of them are embodied in the Sermon on the Mount, and all of them are directly related to

individual conduct, so that there are only two possible ways of dealing with them, namely, to practice

them or to ignore them.

It is not necessary for me to refer to them all separately, as, not only have my readers the Bible at their

command, but each precept is based upon the same divine principle, and to learn the spirit of one is to

know the spirit of them all. Indeed, seeing that not only all the precepts, but that the whole duty of life

in its human and divine relationship has been embodied in the seventeen words, "all things whatsoever

ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them," it is only necessary to refer to the

other precepts in order to elucidate the carrying out of this one, for in learning this one precept, the

whole range of spiritual life and knowledge is involved: "This is the Law and the Prophets."

The precept is extremely simple; this is why men have failed to understand it and to put it into effect.

Its application, however, to the soul of the individual leaves no room for selfishness and self-

compromise, and so comprehensive is it that to carry it out in its entirety means the attainment of

Christ-like perfection of character. But before a man can put it into practice, he must strive to

understand it, and even this initial step necessitates a self-surrender which few are willing to make. A

man can learn nothing unless he regards himself as a learner. Before a man can learn anything of the

divine spirit within, he must come to the feet of Christ divested of all of his desires, his opinions and

views, yea, even of his cherished ideal, regarding himself as a little child, knowing nothing, blind and

ignorant, seeking knowledge. Before this attitude of humility is adopted, the attainment of divine life

and knowledge is impossible; but he who will adopt it will rapidly enter into the highest revelations,

and the carrying out of the precept will soon become easy and natural to him.

Having clothed himself with humility the first questions a man asks himself are: "How am I acting

towards others?" "What am I doing to others?" "How am I thinking of others?" "Are my thoughts of

and acts to-ward others prompted by unselfish love, as I would theirs should be to me, or are they the

outcome of personal dislike, of petty revenge, or of narrow bigotry and condemnation?" As a man, in

the sacred silence of his soul, asks himself these searching questions, applying all his thoughts and acts

to the spirit of the primary precept of Jesus, his understanding will become illuminated so that he will

unerringly see where he has hitherto failed; and he will also see what he has got to do in rectifying his

heart and conduct, and the way in which it is to be done. Such a man has become a disciple of Christ at

whose feet he sits, and whose commands he is prepared to carry out no matter at what sacrifice to

himself.

One hour‘s daily meditation upon this precept, combined with a sincere wish to learn its meaning and a

determination to carry it out, would rapidly lift a man above his sinful nature into the clear light and

freedom of divine Truth, for it would compel him to re-model his entire life, and to turn right round in

his attitude towards others. Let a man, before acting, ask himself the question, "Should I like others to

do this to me?" and he will soon find his way out of his spiritual darkness, for he will then begin to live

for others instead of for himself; will adjust his thoughts and conduct to the Principle of divine Love,

instead of blindly following his selfish inclinations. However others act towards him, he will begin to

act towards all in a calm, quiet, forgiving spirit. If others attack his attitude, his beliefs, his religion, he

will not retaliate, and will cease from attacking others, realizing that it is his supreme duty to carry out

his divine Master‘s commands; and the carrying out of those commands will demand the re-adjustment,

not only of his thoughts and acts, but of every detail of his life, even down to his eating and drinking

and clothing.

As he proceeds in this new life, the Teachings of Jesus will become luminous with a new light, vital

with a new life, and he will feel that every precept is for him, and that he must carry them out, ceasing

to accuse others because they do not carry them out. As he reads the words "Judge not," he will know

that he must cease from all harsh and unkind judgment, that he must think kindly of all, just as much so

of those who are unkind to him as of those who are kind to him; that if others judge and condemn him,

he must not do so to them, and, putting aside all personal considerations, must deal with them in the

spirit of equity, wisdom and love. It will thus be seen that even in carrying out the one simple precept,

"Judge not," a man must necessarily rise above much that is merely personal and selfish, and will

develop unusual spiritual strength. This course of conduct, diligently pursued, will lead to the

observance of the precept, "Resist not evil," for if a man ceases to judge others as evil, he will cease to

resist them as evil.

Of late years much has been written about non-resistance to evil, but he who would comprehend the

spiritual significance of this, or indeed of any precept, must not rest content with mere dialectic

definitions of it, but must assiduously practise it; he can only find its meaning by doing it. And in the

doing of this precept, a man will destroy in himself the eye of evil, and in its place he will learn to look

through the eye of good, the eye of Truth; when he will see that evil is not worth resisting, and that the

practice of the good is supremely excellent.

Whilst a man is engaged in resisting evil, he is not only practicing the good, he is actually involved in

the like passion and prejudice which he condemns in another, and as a direct result of his attitude of

mind, he himself is resisted by others as evil. Resist a man, a party, a law, a religion, a government as

evil, and you yourself will be resisted as evil. He who considers it as a great evil that he should be

persecuted and condemned, let him cease to persecute and condemn. Let him turn away from all that he

has hitherto regarded as evil, and begin to look for the good, taking passion, resentment and retaliation

out of his heart, and he will very soon see that what he has all along been resisting as evil has no

existence as such, and that it was merely an exaggerated and illusionary reflection of the passion and

folly which were in himself. So deep and far-reaching is this precept that the practice of it will take a

man far up the heights of spiritual knowledge and attainment, and when, by following its demands, he

has so far purified and overcome himself as to see good and not evil in all men and all things, he will

then be prepared to carry out a still higher precept {though one contained in the primary precept),

namely, "Love your enemies."

Over none of the precepts do men stumble more than this one, and the cause for such stumbling is near

at hand and very plain. It is to be expected that men who regard fighting, retaliation, and hatred towards

their enemies as indications of nobility of character should look upon this precept as not only an

impracticable, but a very foolish command. And from their standpoint of knowledge they are right. If

man be regarded as a mere animal cut off from the Divine, those fierce, destructive qualities which are

esteemed noble in the beast, are noble in man.

To such men, living in their animal qualities and instincts, meekness, forgiveness and self-denying love

appear as cowardice, effeminacy and weak sentimentality. If, however, we recognize in man certain

divine qualities, more active in some than others, but possessed in a measure by all, such as love,

purity, compassion, reason, wisdom, etc., which lift him above the animal, then the precept, "Love your

enemies," not only appears practicable, but is seen to represent the rightful and legitimate state of man.

To the man, therefore, who says, "This is an impossible precept," I would say, "You are right, to you it

is impossible; but it is only your unbelief in the efficacy of those qualities which constitute Goodness,

and your belief in the power of the animal forces, that make it so; reverse your attitude of mind, and the

impossibilities will fade away."

No man can carry out and understand this precept who is not willing to renounce his animal nature. He

who would find the Christ, the pure spirit of Truth, must cease to warp and blind his spiritual vision by

flattering his feelings and passions. The source of all enmity within himself must be destroyed. Hatred

is none the less hatred when it is called dislike. Personal antipathies, however natural they may be to

the animal man, can have no place in the divine life. Nor can a man see spiritual things or receive

spiritual truths while his mind is involved in malice, dislike, animosity, revenge, or that blind egotism

which thinks "I, in my views, am right, and you are wrong."

The keeping, then, of the commandment, "Love your enemies," necessitates the removal, from the

heart, of all hatred and egotism, and as this is accomplished, the Principle of Divine Love, which is

unchangeably the same towards all, — the just and the unjust, the sinful and the saintly, — takes the

place, in the consciousness, of those violent animal and personal loves which are continually changing,

and coming and going, and which are inseparably linked with their opposite of violent hatred. It is

impossible to love one‘s enemies whilst living in the animal personality, for that personality is of the

very nature of blind love and hatred; it is only by deserting the personal elements, that the impersonal,

divine Love which does not alter with the changing attitudes of others, is found, and can become the

dominating factor in one‘s conduct; and when that is done, the disciple realizes that his true nature is

divine.

The Love, then, which enables a man to deal kindly with his enemies, and to do to others as he would

like others to do to him, irrespective of their attitude of mind, is not an emotion, impulse or preference,

but a state of divine knowledge arrived at by practice; and as this knowledge is perfected in the mind,

the Eternal Principles of the Divine Law of which the Prophets spoke, and on which they stood, are

comprehended.

He who will keep the precepts of Jesus, will conquer himself and will become divinely illuminated. He

who will not keep them will remain in the darkness of his lower nature, shut out from all understanding

of Spiritual Principles and of the Divine Law. Herein, also, resides the infallible test of discipleship, for

it was none other than Jesus the Christ who said, "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings," and

"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me."

3. The Yoke And The Burden

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall

find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

Jesus

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.

Jesus

Humanity is essentially divine. Every precept of Jesus rests upon this truth. If man were not divine, the

precepts would be both worthless and meaningless, as there would be nothing within him (no divine

spirit) to which they could appeal. The very fact that man is capable of loving his enemies, and of

returning good for evil, is an attestation of his inward and essential divinity. If sin were man‘s natural

and rightful condition, it would be right that he should remain in it, and there would be no necessity to

exhort him to virtue and holiness, for it would be impossible for him to act otherwise than in

accordance with his original nature. Whenever men exhort their fellows to virtue, nobility of action,

purity of thought, and unselfishness, they unconsciously assert and emphasize man‘s originally divine

nature, and proclaim, though perhaps they know it not, his superiority to sin, and his God-like power to

overcome it.

So long, however, has man dwelt in the habitations of sin, that he has at last come to regard himself as

native to it, and as being cut off from the Divine Source, which he believes to be outside and away

from him. He has thereby lost the consciousness and knowledge of his own divinity, of his essential

oneness with God, the Spirit of Good. Humanity at present is in the position of the Prodigal Son,

wandering in the Far Country of Sin, and attempting to live upon the swinish husks of base desires and

false beliefs; and every divine precept and command is a call to man to return to his Father‘s House, his

Original Innocence, and to recover and re-establish the knowledge of his substantial oneness with the

Divine.

The whole of the teaching of Jesus is an exhortation to men to do as he did, to live as he lived; he

thereby recognizes and affirms the inherent equality of Humanity with Himself, and in declaring "I and

my Father are One," he speaks not alone for himself but for all men. The difference between the life of

Jesus and that of other men is not arbitrarily imposed, nor does it exist in essentiality, it is self-imposed

and exists in individual choice. Jesus fully recognized his oneness with the Father (the Divine Source),

and lived consciously in that oneness; other men (speaking broadly) not only do not recognize their

oneness with the Divine, but do not believe it; it is therefore impossible for them, by virtue of their

unbelief, to rise to the dignity and majesty of the Divine Life. Whilst a man regards himself as being

the creature of sin, believing himself to be originally degraded, he must necessarily remain degraded,

and subject to sin; but let him realize that he is originally divine, that he is not, never was and never can

be, cut off from the Divine except in his own ignorance and willful choice, and he will at once rise

above sin, and commence to manifest the Divine Life.

Man is primarily a spiritual being, and as such, is of the nature and substance of the Eternal Spirit, the

Unchangeable Reality, which men call God. Goodness, not sin, is his rightful condition; perfection, not

imperfection, is his heritage, and this a man may enter into and realize now if he will grant the

condition, which is the denial or abandonment of self, that is, of his feverish desires, his proud will, his

egotism and self-seeking — all that which St. Paul calls the "natural man."

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes the way of action and thought by which the divine life is

to be lived, and after having laid down the whole duty of man as a spiritual being, a son of God, He

exhorts men to live as becomes their divine relationship, in the words, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as

your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." In sounding this high call to perfection, Jesus, far from

commanding an impossibility, merely urges men to live their true life of divine perfection, and to give

up their false life of self-seeking and sin.

The "yoke" which Jesus calls upon men to take upon themselves is the yoke of obedience — obedience

to the divine nature which is in every man, no longer obeying the lower desires and impulses; and the

"burden" is the burden of a sinless life. Such a yoke is "easy," because it entails no suffering, and such a

burden is "light," for it is relieved of the weight of sorrow, anxiety and fear. It is the life of self-seeking

which is so uneasy, while the burden of sin, even of the mildest forms of sin, is heavy and wearisome.

To know the truth of this, a man has only to look around upon the world, and then within his own soul.

Jesus recognized the divine in all men, even those called "evil," and he dwelt upon it and reiterated it.

The idea of man being innately degraded, a lost creature, incapable of lifting himself to the heights of

Goodness and Righteousness, nowhere enters into either the words, conceptions, or teaching of Jesus.

On the other hand, the whole of his teaching affirms and emphasises man‘s innate Goodness, and his

unlimited capacity for practicing goodness. When he says, "Condemn not and ye shall not be

condemned; forgive and ye shall be forgiven; give and it shall be given unto you; good measure pressed

down, shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosoms," he plainly tells us that if

we will only put away all resentment, and treat others with kindness, forgiveness and gentle

consideration, we shall then find that men are so intrinsically good that they will heap kindnesses

without number upon us. He who would find how good at heart men are, let him throw away all his

ideas and suspicions about the "evil" in others, and find and practice the good within himself.

Jesus also speaks of the "righteous," and those who "hunger and thirst for righteousness," of "the

meek," "the merciful," "the pure in heart," and "the peacemakers," and declares that all such are

blessed. He draws our attention to the fact that those who regard themselves as evil, are so far from

being evil that they know how to give good gifts to their children, and that even the publicans and

sinners return love for love. His testimony to the guileless innocence of little children seems to have

been much overlooked and ignored by those who call themselves his followers, and in all his references

to and treatment of, the fallen; he looks behind and away from the surface defilement (which other men

regard as the real man, and dwell upon and exaggerate its enormity), and sees and brings forth the

divine beauty and goodness hidden away under the accumulation of sin.

He speaks of sinners as "captives" and "blind," and that it was his mission to preach deliverance and

restore sight, clearly indicating that sin is foreign to man, and that sinlessness is his true state; and he

even declares that men shall do greater works than he did.

Nowhere in the whole range of history or inspiration is there to be found such testimony to the lofty

nobility and essential purity and goodness (doubtless more or less latent) of human heart than in the

words and deeds of Jesus. In his divine goodness he knew the human heart, and he knew that it was

good.

Man has within him the divine power by which he can rise to the highest heights of spiritual

achievement; by which he can shake off sin and shame and sorrow, and do the will of the Father, the

Supreme Good; by which he can conquer all the powers of darkness within, and stand radiant and free;

by which he can subdue the world, and scale the lofty pinnacles of Truth. This can man, by choice, by

resolve, and by his divine strength, accomplish; but he can only accomplish it in and by obedience; he

must choose meekness and lowliness of heart; he must abandon strife for peace; passion for purity;

hatred for love; self-seeking for self-sacrifice, and must overcome evil with good; for this is the holy

Way of Truth; this is the safe and abiding salvation; this is the yoke and burden of the Christ.

4. The Word And The Doer

Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man

which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the

wind blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.

Jesus

If ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the Thruth,

and the Truth shall make you free.

Jesus

The Gospel of Jesus is a Gospel of living and doing. If it were not this, it would not voice the Eternal

Truth. Its Temple is Purified Conduct, the entrance-door to which is Self-surrender. It invites men to

shake off sin, and promises, as a result, joy and blessedness and perfect peace.

There is one characteristic in the teachings of all those Great Souls who have been worshipped by

mankind as saviors, and that is that they bring to light and appeal directly to, the simple facts and truths

of the soul and of life; and in the teaching of Jesus this feature stands out pre-eminently. Strictly

speaking, he put forward no theory, advanced no creed, laid no claim to any particular "views," and

propounded no speculative philosophy. He was content to state that which is.

Men are so taken up with their pleasures, theories, theologies, and philosophies that they cannot

comprehend the simple facts of life, and it is supremely the office of the true teacher to bring men back

to the simple and beautiful realities of their own souls. The false teacher, he who can perceive the

simple truths of Duty and of Conduct, and does not see himself and other men as they are, when asked

to point out the Way of Truth, will declare that it lies entirely in the acceptance of his own particular

theology, and will warn the questioner against all other systems of theology. Not so, however, the true

Teacher, he who knows the human heart, and who sees life as it is; and particularly not so, Jesus, who

when questioned of the Way of Life, always told his questioner to go and do certain things. Never once

did he refer a questioner to any views, theories, or deftly woven philosophies of his own, or indeed of

other men. He referred them to duty and to purity of life and conduct, and the only things he warned

them against were their own sins. And, truly, this is all that is needful. A man either abandons sin or

clings to it; if the former, he does all and realizes the Law of Life; if the latter, he does nothing, and

remains ignorant, blind, without understanding.

Truth is contained in conduct, and not in any system of thought; and to live purely and blamelessly is

infinitely superior to all wordy doctrines. Let a man carefully study every system of theology, and he

will at last find that one selfless thought, one pure deed, puts them all to shame. Truth is divorced from

the controversies of the creeds, but it shines with undimmed luster in the self-forgetting deed. How

beautifully this is illustrated in the parables of Jesus, and how forcibly it is brought out in many of the

incidents of his life; particularly in that one recorded in the tenth chapter of Luke, where the lawyer

asks, "Master, what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life?" The answer of Jesus is to ask him to repeat the

chief commandment, which being done, Jesus simply says, "This do, and thou shalt live." Whereupon

the lawyer, wishing to draw Jesus into an argument, in order, no doubt, to confound him, asks, "And

who is my neighbor?"

We then have the incomparable parable of the good Samaritan, wherein Jesus shows in the simplest

language and imagery, yet forcibly and unmistakably, that religious observances are so many vain and

useless burdens unless accompanied by good deeds, and that the so-called worldly man who does

unselfish deeds has already found Eternal Life; while the so-called religious man who shuts up his soul

against mercy and unselfishness, is shut out from Life. To comprehend the full force of this parable it is

necessary to bear in mind that the Priests and the Levites were regarded by the Jews as being the highly

favored and chosen of God, whereas the Samaritans were regarded as being entirely outside the pale of

salvation.

Jesus recognized no religion outside of conduct; and truly there is none. Pure Goodness is Religion, and

outside it there is no religion. There are innumerable doctrines, and there is much strife and heated

controversy, but a man is only truly religious when he succeeds in rising above these and this, and

reaches that loving place in his heart where all hateful distinctions are burnt away by the pure flames of

compassion and love. And in this divine place Jesus stood, and he calls other men thither to receive rest

and peace.

That Jesus was meek, and lowly, and loving, and compassionate, and pure, is very beautiful, but it is

not sufficient; it is necessary, reader, that you also should be meek, and lowly, and loving and

compassionate and pure. That Jesus subordinated his own will to the will of the Father, it is inspiring to

know, but it is not sufficient; it is necessary that you, too, should likewise subordinate your will to that

of the overruling Good. The grace and beauty and goodness that were in Jesus can be of no value to

you, cannot be understood by you, unless they are also in you, and they can never be in you until you

practice them, for, apart from doing, the qualities which constitute Goodness do not, as far as you are

concerned, exist. To adore Jesus for his divine qualities is a long step towards Truth, but to practice

those qualities is Truth itself; and he who truly adores the perfection of another will not rest content in

his own imperfection, but will fashion his soul after the likeness of that other. To us and to all there is

no sufficiency, no blessedness, no peace to be derived from the goodness of another, not even the

goodness of God; not until the goodness is done by us, not until it is by constant effort, incorporated

into our being, can we know and possess its blessedness and peace. Therefore, thou who adorest Jesus

for his divine qualities, practice those qualities thyself, and thou too shalt be divine.

The teaching of Jesus brings men back to the simple truth that righteousness, or rightdoing, is entirely a

matter of individual conduct, and not a mystical something apart from a man‘s thoughts and actions,

and that each must be righteous for himself; each must be a doer of the word, and it is a man‘s own

doing that brings him peace and gladness of heart, not the doings of another.

Millions of people worship Jesus and call him Lord, but Jesus does not leave us in any difficulty or

doubt as to who are his disciples, as to who have entered into Life! His words are directness and

simplicity itself, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of

Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." And again, "Why call ye me

Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" And they are the doers of the Father‘s will who shape

their conduct to the divine precepts.

The doer of the word demonstrates and proves its truth in his own mind and life. He thus knows the

Eternal Rock as a substantial reality within himself, and he builds thereon the Temple of Righteousness

which no rains of grief, no winds of temptation and no floods of sin can destroy or undermine. It is only

the doer of forgiveness who tastes the sweets of forgiveness; it is only he who practices love and mercy

and righteousness who receives into his heart the overflowing measure of their blessedness; and none

but he who dwells in peace toward all can know the boundless and immeasurable peace. Thus is the

doer of the word the disciple indeed, and continuing in that word, becoming one with it in heart and

mind, he knows the Truth which frees the soul from the bondage of sin.

5. The Vine And The Branches

I am the Vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth

forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.

Jesus

Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Jesus

The Christ is the Spirit of Love, which is the abiding and indwelling Reality in man. Yet though its

perfected Temple is the human form, and it can only visibly and consciously manifest itself in and

through the human personality, it is impersonal in its nature, is a universal and eternal Principle, and is

at once the source and the substance of Life.

In this Principle of Love, all Knowledge, Intelligence, and Wisdom are contained, and until a man

realizes it as the one vital Reality of his being, he does not fully comprehend the Christ. Such glorious

realization is the crown of evolution, the supreme aim of existence. Its attainment is complete salvation,

emancipation from all error, ignorance, and sin.

This principle is in all men, but is not manifested by all; and it is not known and manifested by men

because they continue to cling to those personal elements which obscure its presence and power. Every

personal element in human nature is changeable and perishable, and to cling to them is to embrace

negations, shadows, death. In the material world, an object cannot be perceived until all intervening

obstacles are removed; and in the spiritual region an abiding Principle cannot be apprehended until

every impermanent element is relinquished. Before a man can know Love as the abiding Reality within

him, he must utterly abandon all those human tendencies which frustrate its perfect manifestation. By

so doing he becomes one with Love — becomes Love itself; he then discovers that he is, and always

has been, divine and one with God.

Jesus, by his complete victory over the personality, realized and manifested his oneness with the

Supreme Spirit; and, subordinating his entire nature and life to impersonal Love, he became literally an

embodiment of the Christ. He is therefore truly called the Christ.

"When Jesus said, "Without Me ye can do nothing," he spoke not of his perishable form, but of the

Universal Spirit of Love of which his conduct was a perfect manifestation; and this utterance of his is

the statement of a simple truth; for the works of man are vain and worthless when they are done for

personal ends, and he himself remains a perishable being, immersed in darkness and fearing death, so

long as he lives in his personal gratifications. The animal in man can never respond to and know the

divine; only the divine can respond to the divine. The spirit of hatred in man can never vibrate in

unison with the Spirit of Love; Love only can comprehend Love, and become linked with it. Man is

divine; man is of the substance of Love; this he may realize if he will relinquish the impure, personal

elements which he has hitherto been blindly following, and will fly to the impersonal Realities of the

Christ Spirit; and these Realities are Purity, Humility, Compassion, Wisdom, Love.

Every precept of Jesus demands the unconditional sacrifice of some selfish, personal element before it

can be carried out. Man cannot know the Real whilst he clings to the unreal; he cannot do the work of

Truth whilst he clings to error. Whilst a man cherishes lust, hatred, pride, vanity, self-indulgence,

covetousness, he can do nothing, for the works of all these sinful elements are unreal and perishable.

Only when he takes refuge in the Spirit of Love within, and becomes patient, gentle, pure, pitiful, and

forgiving, does he work the works of Righteousness, and bear the fruits of Life. The vine is not a vine

without its branches, and even then it is not complete until those branches bear fruit. Love is not

complete until it is lived by man; until it is fully understood by him and manifested in his conduct. A

man can only consciously ally himself to the Vine of Love by deserting all strife, and hatred, and

condemnation, and impurity, and pride, and self-seeking and by thinking only loving thoughts and

doing loving deeds. By so doing, he awakens within him the divine nature which he has heretofore

been crucifying and denying.

Every time a man gives way to anger, impatience, greed, pride, vanity, or any form of personal

selfishness, he denies the Christ, he shuts himself out from Love. And thus only is Christ denied, and

not by refusing to adopt a formulated creed. Christ is only known to him who by constant striving has

converted himself from a sinful to a pure being, who by noble, moral effort has succeeded in

relinquishing that perishable self which is the source of all suffering and sorrow and unrest, and has

become rational, gentle, peaceful, loving, and pure.

Man‘s only refuge from sin is sinless Love, flying to and dwelling in which, and abandoning all else as

evanescent, unreal, and worthless, daily practicing love towards all in heart and mind and deed,

harboring no injurious or impure thoughts, he discovers the imperishable Principles of his being, enters

fully into the knowledge of his oneness with eternal Life, and receives the never-ending Rest.

6. Salvation This Day

This day is salvation come to this house.

Jesus to Zacchaeus

Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.

Jesus

I have tried to show, in the five foregoing chapters, that the Teaching of Jesus is based entirely on the

perfection of conduct, and can be summed up in the one word Goodness. Jesus manifested this

Goodness in his life, and his Teaching is vitally powerful because it is rooted in his life, his conduct.

His command, "Follow me," is literal and actual, not in the sense of a slavish imitation of the external

details of his life, but in scaling (as he scaled) the heights of Goodness and Pity and Love by the

conquest of self. The glory of his Teaching is embodied in his precepts, as the splendor of his life is

wrapped up in them, and he who adopts those precepts as the guides of his life will so perfect his

conduct by purifying the inward springs of thought and action as to become a spiritualized and sinless

being, fulfilling the whole duty of life and the purpose of existence. Herein also is contained complete

salvation, namely, freedom from sin.

The word salvation is only mentioned by Jesus twice, and only one of these utterances (that to

Zacchaeus) can be said to have any vital significance for us; yet in that one brief statement we are fully

enlightened as to its meaning by virtue of its pointed application to the altered conduct of Zacchaeus.

This man, we infer, had hitherto been hard, exacting, and grasping, but though he had not yet seen in

person the new Teacher, his message had reached his ears, and he had opened his heart to the Good

News that man can and should repent, and abandon selfish and sinful practices for good and sinless

conduct. And this he had done, and, having proved its blessedness, no wonder that when Jesus came to

his house he "received him joyfully," and told him how he had abandoned wrong-doing for right-doing;

evil for good; the selfish for the unselfish life. Jesus did not inquire into the "religious views" of

Zacchaeus, did not impose upon him any change of view or opinion; did not demand that he believe

anything about Jesus as being the Messiah, the Son of God, etc. Zacchaeus had changed his conduct;

had completely turned round in his attitude toward others; had abandoned greed for generosity,

extortion for charity, honesty for dishonesty, selfishness for unselfishness, evil for good, — and this

was sufficient, as Jesus declared in the words, "This day is salvation come to this house."

The only salvation recognized and taught by Jesus is salvation from sin, and the effects of sin, here and

now; and this must be old selfishness, the old life of self, in any or every shape, only by doing this, and

turning to the new life of gentleness, and purity, and humility, and unselfish love, can a man be said to

be saved from sin; and then he is saved indeed, for, no more practicing it, it can trouble him no more.

Herein also is Heaven, not a speculative heaven beyond the tomb, but a real, abiding, and ever present

Heaven in the heart; a Heaven from which all the hellish desires and moods and sufferings are

banished, where Love rules, and from which Peace is never absent.

Good news indeed is that message of Jesus which reveals to man his divine possibilities; which says in

substance to sin-stricken humanity, "Take up thy bed and walk;" which tells man that he need no longer

remain the creature of darkness and ignorance and sin if he will but believe in Goodness, and will

watch and strive and conquer until he has actualized in his life the Goodness that is sinless. And in thus

believing and overcoming, man not only has the guide of that Perfect Rule which Jesus has embodied

in his precepts, he has also the inward Guide, the Spirit of Truth in his own heart, "The Light which

lighteth every man that cometh into the world," which, as he follows it, will infallibly witness to the

divine origin of those precepts.

He who will humbly pass through the Gate of Good, resolving that every element of his nature that is

not pure and true and lovable shall be abandoned, that every violation of the Divine precepts shall be

abolished, to him, faithful, humble, true, will be revealed the sublime Vision of the Perfect One, and,

day by day purifying his heart and perfecting his conduct in accordance with his vision, he will sooner

or later rise above all the subtleties of his lower nature, will wash away every ignominious stain from

his soul, and realize the perfect goodness of the eternal Christ.

The Divine Companion. By James Allen

Contents

• Foreword

• Part I: The Divine Companion

• Truth as Awakener

• Truth as Consoler

• Truth as Redeemer

• Truth as Reconciler

• Truth as Protector

• Part II: The Divine Dialogue

• Salutation

• Of Seeking and Finding

• Of Entering the Way

• Of Discipline and Purification

• Of Renunciation

• Of Purity of Heart

• Of Righteousness

• Of Knowledge of the Law

• Benediction

• Part III: The Divine Messages

• The First Prophecy, called the Awakening

• The Second Prophecy, called the Messiah

• The Third prophecy, called the All - One

• The Fourth Prophecy, called Unrest

• The Fifth Prophecy, called Transition

• The Sixth Prophecy, called Peace

• The First Exhortation, concerning Purity

• The Second Exhortation, concerning Humility

• The Third Exhortation, concerning Love

• Instruction, concerning the Master

• Instruction, concerning the Law

• Instruction, concerning The Great Reality

• Discourse Concerning The Way of Truth:

1. Self - Restraint

2. Self - Examination

3. Self - Surrender

Foreword

It cannot be said of this book that James Allen wrote it at any particular time or in any one year, for he

was engaged in it over many years and those who have eyes to see and hearts to understand will find in

its pages the spiritual history of his life. It was his own wish that The Divine Companion should be the

last MS of his to be published. " It is the story of my soul," he said, " and should be read last of all my

books, so that the student may understand and find my message in its pages. Therefore hold it back

until you have published everything else." There remain now only his dramatic works and a few poems

to be included in the next edition of Poems of Peace. That The Divine Companion will prove a

companion indeed to thousands who have read his books in the past, I have no doubt. To read it is to

hear again the voice of tne writer, and to study its message is to once again sit at his feet. He trod the

Way himself - every bit of it, and he therefore speaks as one having authority. Lovers of James Allen‘s

works will indeed be filled with joy to know that there is yet another book from his inspired pen, and

will eagerly welcome The Divine Companion.

LILY L. ALLEN

Part I: The Divine Companion

I, the Spirit of Truth

Am the Friend of the forsaken and the Companion

of the wise,

I restore the one, and I gladden the other, and all

men I protect, though they know me not.

The Divine Companion

Truth as Awakener

1

REJOICE ! for the Morning has dawned :

The Truth has awakened us ;

We have opened our eyes and, the dark night of

error is no more.

Long have we slept in matter and Sensation ;

Long did we struggle in the painful nightmare of

evil;

But now we are awake in Spirit and Truth:

We have found the Good, and the struggle with evil

is ended:

We slept, yet knew not that we slept:

We suffered, yet knew not why we suffered:

We were troubled in our dreaming, yet none could

awake us, for all were dreaming like ourselves ;

Then there came a pause in our dreaming ;

Our sleep was stayed ;

Truth spoke to us, and we heard ;

And lo ! we opened our eyes, and saw.

We slumbered and saw not;

We slept and knew not;

But now we are awake and see;

Yea, we know we are awake because we have seen

Holiness, and we love sin no more;

We have beheld Truth, and error has ceased to

attract us.

Yea, we have seen the Truth !

Not as a dream in the night, but as a Reality with

our awakened eyes ;

As a beautiful land afar have we seen it,

And we shall press forward until we reach and

possess it.

How beautiful is Truth !

How glorious is the Realm of Reality !

How Ineffable is the bliss of Holiness !

We have abandoned error for truth, and illusion for

Reality.

We have turned our backs on error and confusion,

And have set our faces towards the harmony of

Justice and Truth.

2

To sin is to dream,

And to love sin is to love darkness.

The awakened do not prefer dreaming to intelligent

action ;

They do not choose darkness rather than light.

They who love darkness are involved in the

darkness;

They have not yet seen the light.

He who has seen the light does not choose to walk

in darkness.

To see the Truth is to love it, and in comparison

error has no beauty,

The dreamer is now in pleasure, now in pain ;

This hour in confidence, the next in fear.

He is without stability and has no abiding refuge.

When the monsters of remorse and retribution

pursue him, whither can he fly ?

There is no place of safety unless he awake.

Let the dreamer struggle with his dream ;

Let him strive to realise the illusory nature of all

self-seeking desire,

And lo! he will open his spiritual eyes upon the

world of Light and Truth;

He will awake, and will see all things in their right

relations and true proportions ;

He will be happy, sane, and peaceful seeing things

as they are.

Truth is the light of universe, the day of the mind ;

In it there is no error, no anguish, and no fear.

He who has awakened into the light of day is no

more burdened with the troubles of his dreams.

They are remembered as dreams only as illusions

that are dispelled.

The unawakened one knows neither waking nor

dreaming;

He is in confusion, he knows not himself;

Neither knows he others, and his judgment is

without knowledge.

The awakened one knows both waking and

dreaming;

He is established in wisdom;

Knowing himself, he knows others, and he judges

with knowledge.

He is the understander, the knower of hearts,

And, walking in the light of Truth, he knows that

every dreamer will at last awake.

3

Truth awakens us out of the slumber of ignorance,

Out of the deep sleep of sin.

It calls, and they who hear and awake, become wise

and blessed.

Truth appears to men, and they see it not.

It calls to them, and they hear not.

It speaks to them through their actions,

It cries aloud to them in their sufferings,

It shines upon them in all their ways,

But they hear not, neither do they see,

For their ears are deaf in slumber, and their eyes are

holden with sleep.

Truth is manifest in the actions of the wise,

Its light illuminates their precepts,

But the sleeper in error has no eyes for the

manifest,

And the light of Truth, falling upon his

sleeping lids, calls forth no visual response.

Where there is no understanding, the repetition of

precepts is vain.

Right comprehension is needed.

The sinless mind is the seeing mind.

He who has right comprehension interprets the

divine precepts by the light of his own spotless

deeds.

He does not repeat in error, but understands by the

Spirit of Truth.

And this is the Spirit of Truth,–

To be free from sin to abide in good deeds, and to

live in peace with all.

They that do evil, know not the Truth.

The Truth is in them that do good.

The deeds of Truth shine like the stars at night,

dispelling darkness.

Truth reveals the everlasting Good;

It turns night to day, and changes the appearance of

all things,

So that sin and sorrow are not, and evil is no more.

4

We are awake, and see !

And we know we are awake because we see Good.

And we know we are of the Spirit of Good because

our lusts have departed from us,

And the bondage of hatred is broken. We are

wedded to purity;

We have put on the Raiment of Righteousness,

And we serve the Spirit of Love;

Therefore are we awake ;

Therefore we know that truth has roused us from

the sleep of evil.

We are free and happy because we walk in the

Light.

And we see all things clearly in that Light ;

And we know the way we walk and whither we go.

But when our lusts affrighted us and hatred

enchained us ;

When darkness enfolded us, and the dream of evil

held us,

Then were we bound and miserable ;

We saw only our fitful dreams ;

We knew not the way we walked, nor whither we

went.

He that hates men as evil is in sin,

And he that is in sin is unawakened.

The awakened one is the lover of all men, and there

is no hatred in him,

And this is the sign that he has awakened in the

Truth–

That he loves them that hate him.

Truth ends the dream of evil ;

It dispels the illusions of hatred ;

It liberates the sleeper from darkness and dreams.

Awake, Ye that sleep in error !

Rouse yourselves, Ye that dream in sin !

The splendour of a higher life is round about you,

Even the life of Good. Open your eyes, and see.

Be alert, and listen that ye may hear the call of

Truth,

Even the Voice of the Great Awakener.

Truth as Consoler

1

THE knowledge of Truth is an abiding consolation.

When all else fails, the Truth does not fail.

When a heart is desolate, and the world affords no

shelter,

Truth provides a peaceful refuge and a quiet rest.

The cares of life are many, and its path is beset with

difficulties;

But Truth is greater than care, and is uperior to all

difficulties.

Truth lightens our burdens ; It lights up our

pathway with the radiance

of joy. Loved ones pass away, friends fail, and

possessions disappear.

Where then is the voice of comfort ?

Where is the whisper of consolation ?

Truth is the Comforter of the comfortless,

and the Consoler of them that are deserted.

Truth does not pass away, nor fail, nor disappear.

Truth bestows the consolation of abiding peace.

Troubles come to all.

Even the wise cannot escape them.

But the wise have a sure and safe refuge in the

Eternal Good.

They have a Comforter, even Truth,

Who removes the sting from affliction, and

disperses the clouds of trouble.

Night descends upon the pure as upon the impure ;

But it holds no terrors for the pure,

For the Light of Truth shines in the darkness with

assuring radiance.

Sweet is the sleep of the innocent.

And they that rest upon the bosom of Truth repose

in peace.

Day lights up the way both of the wise and the

foolish ;

But the foolish are enveloped with the darkness of

error,

They stumble and are bruised, and have no

comforter.

But the wise walk in the Light of Truth ;

And should they stumble they are lifted up ;

Lo! they are healed and comforted.

They that have the knowledge of Truth have the

satisfaction of peace.

They are not immune from the vicissitudes of life ;

They are not released from the cares and

responsibilities of worldly duties;

They are not unassailed by external foes;

But they are restful at heart;

Their minds abide in the Great Calm.

2

The worldly - minded have no comforter;

But if they forsake the world, and fly to Truth,

They will receive the sweet gift of Consolation

The world is the place of pleasure and pain;

The Truth is the abode of joy and peace.

They that relinguish the excitements and

dissatisfactions of the world for the sake of Truth,

Will find an unfailing Companion and Friend, even

the Eternal.

Distress is in the world.

Yea, grief and sorrow abound.

But the Truth is calm;

It allays grief, and soothes away all sorrow.

Hear ye the lamentations of the world !

Wilder are they than the tempest ;

Deeper than the ocean‘s roar.

Truth alone can still the tempests of passion and the

storms of grief.

Come ye up into the Calm.

Resort ye to the Great Silence.

Men are. swept along by the force of turbulent

passions ;

But when, sorrow arrests them they cry out in

anguish.

Love of worldly pleasure has brought them low,

and the world can offer them no comfort.

The world distresses, but the Truth consoles.

They whom the world has destroyed and deserted,

Who are cast down by pain and sorrow,

Even they are befriended by the Truth when they

turn to Truth.

None are despised by Truth;

None are turned away ;

None are left comfortless.

Ye that are weary with pleasure-seeking;

Ye that are pain-stricken;

Ye that are lonely and desolate–

Come ye to the Truth.

The Truth is above pleasure and pain.

Be ye lifted up ;

Be ye rested ;

Be ye healed ;

Be ye befriended and comforted.

3

He who clings to his delusions, loving self and sin,

He cannot find the Truth,

Cannot receive the consolation of Truth.

All that demeans and defiles must be abandoned.

Truth is not found if the love of self is not

renounced.

They who lie or deceive ;

Who hate or envy ;

Who lust or covet;

Who think only of their own pleasure;

Whose aims are for self and the glory of self in all

that they do,–

From such Truth is hidden by a veil of darkness,

Even they thick veil of error;

From such the consolation of Truth is withheld

because they seek for self only, and not for Truth.

They who are truthful and sincere;

Who love men and rejoice in their success ;

Who are pure and generous;

Who seek the good of others in all that they do,–

To them Truth is revealed;

Such stand face to face with Good, and receive the

consolation of Truth.

The foolish seek satisfaction in sensual pleasures;

The vain are pleased with the flatteries of the

world;

The one leads to misery and emptiness;

The other to disappointment and humiliation.

The wise abide in the joy of Truth;

And there are no pitfalls for the humble,

Their feet are steadfast in the way of peace.

We have cancelled our compact with the world.

Its pleasures are put away, abandoned, renounced.

We perform the necessary uses of the world, but we

no longer rest upon its forms,

No more seek satisfaction in its thirsty desires.

Our hearts are set upon the good of all.

Thus have we found the abiding sweetness of

religion.

We have found a quiet trust and a patient

happiness.

We have resorted to the Faithful One, the

everpresent Comforter,

Even the Spirit of Holiness.

We have taken shelter in His high Abode.

And no temptation shall draw us back into the

tempestuous ways of the world,

For our refuge is a refuge indeed.

4

The way of self is the way of sorrow ;

But Truth refreshes the weary, and lifts up the

oppressed.

There is gladness for the grief-sticken,

And healing for them that are afflicted with the

sorrows of the world.

There is a place of freedom where the chains of sin

are broken,

Where weeping is not, and lamentation is no more

heard.

There is a Friend for the friendless,

And consolation for them that have no comforter

Come; see; and receive.

Truth meets all needs, and is ready to receive all

who come.

The righteous rest there ;

They have received the fulness of joy.

Let also the unrighteous come ;

Yea, let them that are weary of sin, come ;

And they that are burdened and oppressed with the

sorrows of self,

Let them enter and be glad.

There is a Home for the homeless, and a Country

for the exiled ;

For the wanderer there is a happy Way, and the lost

have a City of Refuge.

Whosoever will turn, let him turn and come.

Truth brings joy out of sorrow, and peace out of

perturbation;

It points the selfish to the Way of Good, and sinners

to the Path of Holiness.

Its spirit is the doing of righteousness.

To the earnest and faithful it brings consolation ;

Upon the obedient and skilful it bestows the crown

of peace.

I take refuge in Truth :

Yea, in the spirit of Good, in the knowledge of

Good, and in the doing of Good I abide,

And I am reassured and comforted.

It is to me as though malice were not, and hatred

had vanished away.

Lust is confined to the nethermost darkness,

It hath no way in Truth‘s transcendent Light.

Pride is broken up and dissolved.

And vanity is melted away as a mist.

I have set my face towards the Perfect Good, and

my feet in the Blameless Way ;

And because of this I am consoled.

I am strengthened and comforted, having found

refuge in Truth.

Truth as Redeemer

1

TRUTH is our Redeemer.

Truth purifies our hearts and bestows upon us the

glorious gift of divine Love.

There is no salvation in selfishness.

Self is the vessel of sin and the receptacle of sorrow

;

But when we fly to Truth, self is ended, and Love

abides for ever.

We have tried the ways of self, and we know how

hard they are.

We also look upon the weary multitudes, and

compassion is stirred within us :

But now we have found the Truth the pilgrimage of

self is ended,

Our feet are rested, and there is no more weariness

of heart.

The nature of self is error;

It cannot, therefore, comprehend Truth.

The experience of self is suffering;

It cannot, therefore, apprehend bliss.

When the vessel of self is broken, and its contents

of error and suffering are scattered,

Then is Truth revealed and realised.

Truth alone can comprehend Truth, and bliss

apprehendeth bliss.

How can self know Love, seeing that its nature is

its own gratification ?

How can it know peace, seeing that it cannot

bestow Love ?

How can it enter into salvation, seeing that it dreads

the loss of its perishable lusts and empty pleasures

?

Self is the way of darkness and the path of pain.

The redeemed have put away self, and have

accepted Truth.

Self regards error as Truth, when it is pleasing;

It regards Truth as error, when it is displeasing;

Seeking pleasure and dreading pain, it does not

know good and evil.

Truth knows Truth as Truth, and error as error;

It avoids evil and chooses good, without

considerations of pleasure and pain.

Divine Love is the perfect flower of Truth;

For when Truth fills the heart Love blossoms out in

the life.

By this flower is Truth known,

For wheresoever-impartial Love is, there is Truth.

Just deeds, pure actions, works untainted with self,

minds controlled and calm,–

These are the angelic messengers of Truth ;

The possessors of these are the redeemed ;

Their habitation is peace.

2

Truth is the Saviour of the world.

There is no other Saviour.

There can be no compromise with Truth ;

It says "Give up self."

Truth is our Redeemer only when we yield up all to

it.

Self cannot be saved.

It must be abandoned.

It must be left to the darkness in which it originated

and to which it belongs.

The light of Salvation is only for them that press

forward, and leave all selfishness behind.

And they who turn not back enter the presence of

the Redeemer,

They are clothed with His Glory.

Who can see the glory of the redeemed ?

The redeemed behold it,

And them that are about to be redeemed, see it

dimly:

But the eyes of the world are holden with the

thought of self.

The redeemed are silent in the midst of men.

They accuse not, condemn not, revile not.

When smitten, they are not angry,

And when mocked, they make no sign.

Vet him that smote them they succour in his sorrow

;

And when they that mocked them are brought low,

They lift them up and bless them.

The utterance of Truth is deeds.

The redeemed are freed from all selfishness.

They are made perfect in Truth.

The thought of self being eliminated, there is

nothing remaining in them that can give rise to

selfishness.

They are calm and just, doing that which is right,

and passion is purged from their actions.

He who comes to the feet of Truth,

Earnest in thought, strong in will, and contrite in

heart,

Will be lifted up and saved.

He will overcome all that defiles, and all that

causes sorrow.

The light of Truth will light up his mind, dispelling

all darkness,

And he will stand among them to whom the

Cosmic Glory is unveiled.

For, to the redeemed, the narrow confiness of self

are burst and broken asunder,

And the mind is conscious of the Eternal.

The universe is known as it is;

Yea, its perfection and the splendour of its Law are

revealed.

So large, so boundless, so all-embracing is the life

of the redeemed in Truth.

3

Immortal Truth redeems us from mortal error.

Clinging no more to the perishable, we fly to the

Imperishable,

And find the Rock of Safety.

The body grows old, it withers and decays:

Passions burn out, leaving only the ashes of regret:

Pleasures cease to satisfy and pains fill up their

places;

But Truth is imperishable;

It never grows old, nor does it wither and decay;

It does not consume, and it leaves behind no sorrow

and no pain.

To set the mind upon that which is perishable;

To be consumed by violent passions;

To live in unhappiness and misery,–

This it is to be unredeemed.

The redeemed having the knowledge of the

Imperishable and being in possession of

righteousness,

Live in happiness and joy,

For Truth is always bright and beautiful.

Yea, Truth is always peace - bestowing;

It calms the storms of strife ;

To the passion - driven it brings quiet;

Upon the dark waters of anguish it pours the oil of

stillness ;

The mind that is troubled it restores, and envelops

it with silence.

The redeemed are satisfied;

They are in security and peace ;

They are not overtaken by the storms of passion,

Nor attacked and laid low by fierce desires:

They abide in the Place of Safety.

What enemy shall overcome the redeemed !

Have they not slain the supreme enemy, even self!

Have they not taken his stronghold even their own

hearts !

Yea, they have purified their hearts, and the impure

cannot overcome the pure.

Out of the black night !

Out of the fierce war ;

Out of the confusion and the conflict have the

redeemed come;

And now they dwell in the Light ;

They abide with peace, and darkness and strife are

no more.

4

The unredeemed are in the confines of self ;

They are surrounded with darkness;

They seek for self only.

The redeemed are in the glory of the universal, the

impersonal ;

They are surrounded with light ;

They seek the good of all.

Truth is the breaker of bonds;

It liberates the slave ;

It sets the captive free.

Who chooses bondage rather than liberty ?

Who prefers darkness to light ?

He who has not known liberty loves his chains;

And he who has not seen the light prefers to remain

in darkness.

And when liberty is made known it is desired.

When light is perceived, there is no longer a

dwelling - place in darkness.

The desires of the flesh are a tormenting fever;

The hatreds, conflicts, and covetings of the mind

are a consuming fire :

But there is a healing for the fever, and a water for

the quenching of the fire.

Truth is the healer of the mind ;

It is a sweet medicine to the afflicted,

And a draught of cool water to them that are

troubled with thirst.

There is no unrest in Truth.

The unredeemed are in the way of sorrow ;

Pain and weariness are their companions.

Reaching after pleasures, they grasp sorrows ;

Striving eagerly for self, happiness departs from

them.

But the redeemed are in the Way of Gladness;

Strength and joy are their companions ;

And not departing from Good they dwell in the

House of Happiness.

From what, then, are we redeemed ?

From what are we saved, and where is our salvation

?

We are redeemed from self and passion,

From sin and sorrow,

From unholiness and unrest,

Even from these are we taken away,

We are saved from lust and hatred,

From pride and vanity,

From covetousness and envy,

Even from these are we drawn away.

We are saved by the Truth ;

By the practice of Truth,

By the knowledge of Truth,

And by the power of Truth.

Our salvation is from the Truth.

In Truth we rest.

Truth is the Redeemer of the world.

Truth as Reconciler

1

TRUTH is the Reconciler of Extremes.

It neutralises all opposites.

It harmonises all discords and contradictions.

It brings back to us harmony and peace.

When we were in error we saw all things as

erroneous.

Yea, when we were blind to our own error we saw

error in all else;

We saw good as evil, and evil as good ;

Light as darkness, and darkness as light;

But now we have plucked out the eye of error from

ourselves, we see the Supreme Good.

Truth reconciles man to man;

It reconciles man to the universe ;

It bestows upon him the knowledge of the Good

Law;

It reveals the hidden justice in all events.

In error is unrest, and anger, and perturbation.

Trouble and turmoil is ever with him, who sees

injustice, confusion, and contradiction;

But he who sees Justice, Order, and Harmony is

calm and filled with peace.

Error sees error; and Truth sees Truth.

Error, being darkness, cannot penetrate the light;

But Truth, being light, can penetrate the darkness.

Truth reconciles darkness with light.

Error is the Great Unrest ;

Truth is the Great Peace.

He who looks with the eye of error is restless as the

shifting winds.

But restful as the stable mountain is he who looks

with the eye of Truth.

We are reconciled to the world;

We are reconciled to humanity;

And being thus reconciled we are at rest.

Where unrest is, there is no reconciliation ;

And they who are not so reconciled have not

received the Truth.

2

All things are proportionate ;

All circumstances are just;

All events are of causation.

He who has received the Light of Truth sees all

things in their right relations.

All things are ruled by causation;

All things are of the nature of causation;

There is nothing which is not contained in cause

and effect.

Cause and effect are one :

The Divine Law is one

Out of chaos into Cosmos have we come;

Out of confusion into harmony;

Out of bewilderment into peace perpetual.

There is good in all things.

Out of evil comes suffering;

Out of suffering comes sorrow;

And from sorrow is lowly wisdom born.

Though the night be long, the Morning comes;

And with it comes sunshine and singing.

Though the world be in its long night, the Great

Day will dawn.

Lo ! we behold the splendour of its Light !

There are no more any enemies ;

All are our own, our beloved;

Both them that bless and them that curse all are

friendly to us.

The inward enemy being overcome, all outward

foes have vanished away.

There is no more enmity.

Men and things are in their right places.

There is no more strife;

No more fighting ;

No more warfare.

We behold the fray, but do not engage in it ;

We hear the tumult, and we make no sound.

But though quiescent, we watch;

Though silent, we are not indifferent.

Perceiving the Divine Order, we are reconciled to

all things;

And being so reconciled, we are in perfect peace.

3

Wherefore should we mourn and be sorrowful?

The very ground of lamentation is dissolved;

The foundation of sorrow is cut away ;

And as for sin and evil–they were, but are not.

The sphere of controversy is broken :

About what should we contend?

The world of division is annulled :

What have we to defend?

Can Truth fail, that we should argue, that we should

be anxious and concerned ?

Because Truth endures for ever, our peace can

never fail.

The seed fails in its appointed place;

The flower appears, and also the fruit in its season;

Day warms, and night cools; Light is shed, and rain

falls;

Snow covers, and frost binds.–

Are these things opposed ?

Are they enemies?

They work together as one.

Who, then, shall stir us up to wrath?

Who shall draw us into the lists of contention?

With them that agree with us we are at peace?

And with that oppose us we are also at peace.

Friends are not near, nor enemies far ;

Praise and blame are not asunder.

Truth draws all things together;

It resolves all opposites into one.

Yea, forces that seemed divided are now united ;

Things that seemed to contend are now in

agreement;

And events that seemed adverse are now friendly.

How foolish we were in our fear !

How blind in our bigotry !

How hateful in our heart !

We were as the beasts that rage and kill,

Or as the blind beetle that dashes on to its death !

All things are in unison ;

And fear, and blindness, and hatred are no more.

Having departed from the lesser, the Greater is

revealed :

Having renounced the part, the Whole is received :

Having abandoned the imperfect, what remains but

the Perfect !

4

Truly all things are reconciled, and peace awaits.

The Door of Truth is open.

None hinders, but man holds back.

He holds back for a time, and in the hour of

ripeness he comesforward.

Whosoever will come, let him come ! Let him enter

and be glad.

All things are now.

All Light, all Law, all Truth is now.

Time and Eternity are one ;

Matter and Spirit are one;

Death and Life are one;

The blind see not,

But they that have eyes know the things which they

see.

We strive not;

We stand apart and are silent.

Men hurry to and fro a little while ;

A little time they come, and a little time they go :

How eager they are I How anxious !

How fierce !

Better than all worldly gain is the spirit of peace.

Better than rule and riches is the Reconciliation of

Truth.

Fires burn out, and storms subside ;

But serenity remains.

Calmness preserves and restores, and Tranquillity

is a great possession.

Who condemns our aloofness?

Him our peace enfolds ;

Even him our reconciliation embraces.

Apart, we are not separate :

Aloof, we are not estranged :

Engaging with none, and joining with none, Yet we

belong to all.

For the Perfect Reconciliation is not partial, but

just.

He who sees all sides, sees the Whole ;

And seeing the Whole, he is satisfied;

Being satisfied, he is peace with all. Seers of the

great Glory;

Hearers of the Heavenly Harmony;

Knowers of the Perfect Law–

Great is your gladness !

Wondrous is your wisdom !

Deep is your peace !

More powerful is one day of your silence than a

thousand years of noise.

All parties, all sides, all religions are reconciled.

Love supports all, sustains all, nourishes ad.

The Great Reconciler is come ;

He is here, and we have found Him.

We sought Him, and He turned not away ;

And because of this, we have received the world;

And peace does not depart from us.

Truth as Protector

GOOD deeds are Truth.

Our good deeds remain with us, they save and

protect us.

Evil deeds are error.

Our evil deeds follow us, they overthrow us in the

hour of temptation.

The evil-doer is not protected from sorrow ;

But the good-doer is shielded from all harm.

The fool says unto his evil deed–

"Remain thou hidden, be thou unexposed,"

But his evil is already published, and his sorrow is

sure.

If we are in evil, what shall protect us ?

What keep us from misery and confusion ?

Nor man nor woman, nor wealth nor power, nor

heaven nor earth shall keep us from confusion.

From the results of evil there is no escape ;

No refuge and no protection.

If we are in Good, what shall overthrow us ?

What bring us to misery and confusion?

Nor man nor woman, nor poverty nor sickness, nor

heaven nor earth shall bring us to confusion.

The effects of Good appear, though the cause be

forgotten,

And its refuge and protection is at hand.

What can amulets and charms avail ?

What can the muttering of set prayers avail ?

What can the observance of formal rites avail ?

They cannot avail, they are empty;

They are without efficacy, and are void of

protection.

Righteousness avails.

The doing of good deeds avails.

A pure heart and a blameless life avail.

They are filled with joy and peace.

Truth is a happy retreat and an eternal protection.

In Truth there is no more doubt and uncertainty.

There is safety and security :

There is a straight way and a quiet rest.

2

The righteous know the protection of Truth.

Their minds are free, and they are happy-hearted.

Empty excuses and vain quibbles they harbour not.

They scheme not how to protect themselves ;

Their deeds are invincible defenders;

Their lives bear witness, and they are not ashamed.

The unrighteous are overtaken with shame and

confusion.

They try to hide, but cannot ;

They have no place of concealment:

Their deeds accuse them, and they have no

protection.

How happy are the righteous!

They are relieved from all anxiety.

Walking with Truth, they walk in perfect freedom.

How fearless are the righteous !

They have no dark forebodings ;

They dread no evil;

When evil threatens they are calm and unafraid.

Truth shields from the afflictions of the mind.

It fortifies against misery ;

It destroys self - delusion and sorrow.

The Light of Truth reveals error and the cause of

error;

It also reveals the effects of error ;

It frees the mind from all subjection to evil.

He that is established in Truth is established in

safety.

Truth cannot proceed from error, nor error from

Truth.

Good cannot be the effect of evil, nor evil the effect

of Good.

This is little understood.

But the righteous understand, and, understanding,

they are glad ;

They rejoice in the Law of Truth.

The understanding mind is not misled by

appearances:

It rejoices in Good against all appearances.

When events press, it does not think, "The Good

has failed ";

When outward things fail, it does not say,

"Righteousness has not supported me ";

When persecution comes, it cannot say, "Lo! Truth

affords me no protection !"

Truth is in the thought, and not in the thing ;

It resides in the hearts, and not in the outward habit

;

It destroys the inward enemies, and the outward

reverses have no more pover;

Their sting is gone, their evil is dispersed.

The peace of the perfect ones can never be

destroyed.

3

The pure in heart are protected from within.

The perfect indeed are guarded by Good :

They are upheld by the Good Law.

By the knowledge of Truth they are lifted up:

They stand and do not fall.

Truth cannot be overtaken by error ;

It cannot be overturned by man.

Error passes away but the Truth remains.

Men fall, but the Truth remains.

Truth cannot change ;

It is eternal and indestructible.

Herein is the salvation of the wise ;

Herein is the protection of the pure ;

Herein is the joy of the perfect–

That, being one with Truth, they have come to

peace eternal.

He who is one with Truth, reflects Truth.

He is steadfast, fearless, serene.

He changes not, but is always true.

When tried, he does not falter ;

When assailed, he does not fall.

Permanent in purity and peace, he is established in

gentleness and strength.

Who mourns for sin ?

Who gropes for deliverance?

Who searches for the permanent ?

Let him make himself pure :

Let him come to Truth ;

Let him find peace in the practice of Good.

Things are impermanent;

They have no abiding protection.

Truth is permanent;

Its protection abides through all changes.

Ill deeds are exposed in torment and confusion;

Good deeds are established in bliss and wisdom.

Truth is a Friend that does not disappoint ;

A Protector that never fails.

The world fails ;

It fades and passes like a dream Truth stands;

It becomes more distinct and real.

They who have found Truth are satisfied.

Protected by Truth, they have found a

Protector indeed.

The patient are protected from impatience.

The pure are protected from impurity.

The humble are protected from pride.

The loving are protected from hatred.

Greed flees from the presence of the open-handed ;

Into the habitations of the peaceful strife cannot

come ;

And folly walks not where tread the footsteps of

the wise.

Truth is its own security ;

It protects without premeditation.

It dispenses with disguises, and shields by its own

inherent reality.

Its light disposes of all darkness ;

It exposes the false and reveals the true.

Error falls before Truth ;

Its shield is shattered, its sword broken ;

Yea, it is laid low, and cannot rise.

It is helpless and has nor champion nor defender.

Truth does not fall before error.

The powerless cannot overcome the powerful.

The lesser cannot subdue the greater.

The slave does not command the master.

All things are subject to Truth.

Truth is a shield to the righteous ;

A shelter to the pure ;

A light upon the pathway of the just.

Truth is supreme ;

Truth is invincible ;

Truth is triumphant for ever and ever.

Part II: The Divine Dialogue

I, the Master,

Dwell in the hearts of all men, but all men do not

consciously dwell with me:

He that abides with me in all his thoughts and

deeds, has reached the Divine Consummation.

The Divine Dialogue between the Master and the

Disciple

Salutation

REJOICE, all ye who seek Truth !

Be glad and not sorrowful, all ye who love Truth!

For your sorrows shall pass away as the mists of

the morning ;

Your doubts shall be as the darkness that is not;

And as a dream of the night shall your afflictions

be.

The disciple cried, and lo ! the Master heard;

The disciple was ready, and lo ! the Master was at

hand;

The disciple sought, and behold ! the Master

revealed.

1. Of Seeking and Finding

Disciple. Where is knowledge ?

Where is Truth ?

Where is peace ?

I am sorrowful, and find no comfort in men;

I have gone astray, and find no surety in the

teachings of men ;

Yea, even in myself I find no Truth, and no remedy

for my doubt and sorrow

I have striven in the pride of my heart :

I have contended with men for my opinions ;

I have mistaken evil for good, and have called

ignorance knowledge ;

And now I am alone, and there is none to hear me,

And if I cry, there is none to hear my voice.

Master. Nay, I am with thee, and I hear thy voice.

Disciple. Who art thou that dost assure, me ?

Master. I am the Spirit of Truth.

Disciple. O Master ! O Spirit of Truth !

Why didst thou not come to me before ?

Why didst thou leave me so long desolate ?

Master. Thou wert not desolate till now;

Pride was thy companion, and pride satisfied thee.

Where pride is, there I cannot come,

And he who listens to its flatteries, cannot hear my

Voice.

Self - glory blinded thee, so that my Form thou

couldst not see :

Self - exultation deafened thee, and when I called,

thou didst not hear;

Self - seeking led thee astray, and my Way was

hidden from thee.

But now, having put away pride, thou hast both

seen and heard.

Ask, and I will answer ;

Seek, and thou shalt find.

Disciple. Comfort me, O Master! for I am weary ;

Strengthen me, for I am weak ;

Teach me, for I am lacking in knowledge.

Master. He who deserts self, and takes refuge in

me, is never deserted ;

My Word is his comfort,

My Law his strength,

And my commands his Instruction and Knowledge.

Disciple. Speak thy Word, and I will listen;

Reveal thy Law, and I will walk therein ;

Command me, and I, thy servant, will obey ;

For thou art the Master whom I so long sought,

And having found thee, let me not depart from

thee.

Master. He who follows self, abandons me;

But he who abandons self, lo ! he is with me

always.

Disciple. Hitherto I have clung to self ;

I have followed after vain and empty desires ;

And caught in the toils of self - delusion, I have not

known thy presence;

But now, O Master! I have found thee ;

And having found thee, let me remain with thee;

Let me be thy child, obeying thy voice ;

Let me be thy pupil, receiving thy instruction;

Let me become thy disciple, and fo low

wheresoever thou dost lead.

Master. Thy humility, O disciple ! hath made the

mine.

Thou hast entered the Gateway leading to my

Kingdom,

Even to the Kingdom of a righteous life.

Henceforth thou wilt follow Truth and not self;

Striving, thou hast entered ;

Searching, thou hast revealed ;

Seeking, thou hast found.

Ask whatsoever thou wilt and I will not withhold

instruction.

2. Of Entering the Way

Disciple. Teacher of teachers, instruct thou me.

Master. Ask, and I will answer.

Disciple. I have read much, but am ignorant still ;

I have studied the doctrines of the schools, but have

not become wise thereby ;

I know the Scriptures by heart, but peace is hidden

from me.

Point out to me, O Master! the way of knowledge,

Reveal to me the high way of divine wisdom,

Lead thou thy child into the path of peace.

Master. The way of knowledge, O disciple, is by

searching the heart;

The highway of wisdom is by the practice of

righteousness ;

And by a sinless life is found the way of peace.

Disciple. Bear with me, O Master ! in my

uncertainty.

I am bewildered by the multitude of opinions,

And by the number of schools am I confounded;

Delusion blinds me, doubt encompasses me,

And I cannot find the way wherein I should walk.

Teach me how to search,

How to practise,

How to wear the garment of a blameless life.

Master. Delusion and doubt, O disciple ! are within

thyself;

Within thyself, also, are reality and certainty.

By thine own errors only art thou blinded,

Remove those errors, and thou shalt behold Truth.

Engage, therefore, in holy meditation ;

Search thy heart with the searching of Truth,

And cast out therefrom all that is of self.

Disciple. What is of self ?

Master. Desire and passion and egotism.

From desire and passion and egotism springs self -

delusion ;

And self-delusion is the obscuration of Truth.

Renounce desire ;

Overcome passion ;

Put away egotism,

Then will delusion be dispelled, and all thy doubts

will vanish.

Disciple. O Master ! great is the task which thou

hast set before me,

Laborious the work which thou commandest me to

do,

Steep and strange the way of renunciation which

thou hast pointed out to me.

Desire is deeply rooted in my nature,

And passion binds me fast to earthly things,

Yea, desire and passion are my very self ;

Must I renounce myself ?

Must I yield up that which seems so sweet ?

All men long to preserve the self ;

They pray for its eternal preservation and

possession,

And must I let it perish ?

Master. Thou must, for thou hast vowed to follow

me.

Disciple. Yea, I have vowed, and I will follow thee.

Master. Seest thou how all men suffer ?

This is because they long to preserve the self;

This is because they labour for its eternal

preservation and possession.

In desire and egotism and passion are turmoil and

unrest,

In me alone is peace ;

Weary and pain - stricken is the world because it

knows not me ;

But in me there is no weariness,

And pain and sorrow cannot come to my abode.

My abode is a purified heart ;

The upright mind is my temple ;

And the blameless life is my holy habitation.

Disciple. I will take refuge in thee ;

In thy abode ;

In thy temple ;

Yea, even in thy holy habitation.

Master. The purified heart is not stained by desire ;

The upright mind is not impelled by passion ;

And in the blameless life there is no thought of self.

Search thy heart, and follow Truth ;

Put away the self of desire and passion and

egotism,

Deny, overcome, and abandon it ;

Let no vestige of it remain with thee,

For it is the author of all confusion,

The source of all affliction,

The spring of pain and sorrow and unrest.

Rest thou in me.

Disciple. Thou hast pointed out to me the way of

Truth,

Even the holy way of selfishness.

That way will I walk ;

My resolution, O Master of Truth ! is fixed in thee.

I will put away desire, and will cling to thee ;

I will be deaf to the voices of passion, and will

listen only to thy voice ;

I will not seek my own, but will obey the holy Law.

Lo ! I have put my feet upon thy way.

Lead thou thy servant unto light and peace.

Master. Thou hast entered, O disciple ! the path of

righteousness;

Thy feet are set upon the way of wisdom ;

Thou shalt comprehend my Law,

The light of knowledge shall illumine thee.

And I will guide thy footfalls unto peace.

3. Of Discipline and Purification

Disciple. I am in sorrow, O Master!

My feet are weary, and darkness is closing around

me ;

Desert me not, but come now to my assistance !

My desires are strong, and they cry out for their

habitual pleasures ;

My passions are violent, and overwhelm me with

their strength ;

And the voices of my false opinions weary me with

their demands.

The way is dark and difficult to follow ;

Shed upon me, O Master ! the light of thy

knowledge,

Comfort me with the balm of thy instruction.

Master. Thy sorrow, O disciple ! is of the self ;

In me there is no sorrow.

The darkness which surrounds thee is the shadow

cast by the self ;

There is no darkness in me.

Truth is serene and sorrowless ;

There is no weeping and weariness and lamentation

in Truth.

Even now, though thou seest it not, my light is

shining on thy pathway ;

But thou seest only the dark illusions of thy

worldly self ;

Press forward, and think only of Truth ;

Look not behind thee, nor let thy mind swerve from

thy holy resolution ;

Great is the conquest Which thou hast entered

upon, Even the mighty conquest of thy self;

Be faithful, and thou shalt overcome.

Disciple. Lead me, O Master ! for my darkness is

very great ;

Clouds of selfish thoughts envelop me,

And the enemies within my mind assail me

continually ;

In the snares of my own making my feet are

caught,

And when I think to walk firmly I stumble and fall

;

Yea, my falls are many and grievous, and my

wounds frequent and sore.

Will the darkness lift, O Master ?

Will trial end in victory ?

And will there be an end to my many sorrows?

Master. When thy heart is pure, the darkness will

disappear ;

When thy mind is freed from passion, thou wilt

reach the end of trial,

And when the thought of self - preservation is

yielded up, there will be no more cause for sorrow.

Thou art now upon the way of discipline and

purification ;

All my disciples must walk that way.

Before thou canst enter the white light of

Knowledge,

Before thou canst behold the full glory of Truth,

All thy impurities must be purged away,

The delusions dispelled,

And thy mind fortified with endurance.

Though darkness surroundeth thee,

Though temptation assaileth thee on every hand,

Though thou art sore distressed, and seest not

before thee,

Yet relax not thy faith in Truth ;

Forget not that Truth is eternally supreme,

Remember that I, the Lord of Truth, am watching

over thee.

Disciple. Great is my faith in Truth ;

And I will not forget, but will remember thee.

Master. Walking faithfully the path of discipline

and purification,

Not forsaking and abandoning it,

And not longing to enjoy the pleasures which thou

hast left behind thee,

Thou wilt learn those things which are necessary

for thee ;

Thou wilt learn of the nature of sin and the

meaning of temptation ;

Of suffering and sorrow, and their cause and cure;

Of the fleeting nature of thy self, and its pleasures ;

Of the permanence of Truth and its abiding peace ;

Of what are the marks of ignorance, and what

constitutes knowledge ;

Of what makes evil and what is eternally good;

Of the painfullness of self and the bliss of Truth

wilt thou learn,

Thou wilt also learn of illusion and Reality.

Be faithful and endure, and I will teach thee all

things.

Disciple. I will not turn my face from thee,

Nor will I desert thy holy Way.

Master. Hear me again, O disciple !

Walking faithfully the path of discipline and

purification,

Not abandoning it, but submitting to its austerities,

Thou wilt acquire the three lesser powers of

discipleship;

Thou wilt also receive the three greater powers ;

And the lesser and the greater powers will render

the invincible ;

By their aid thou wilt subdue all sin ;

Thou wilt overcome to the uttermost ;

Thou wilt achieve the Supreme Conquest.

Disciple. What are the lesser and the greater

powers ?

Master. Self - control, self - reliance, and

watchfulness–

These are the three lesser powers.

Steadfastness, Patience, and Gentleness–

These are the three greater powers.

When thy mind is well controlled, and in thy

keeping,

When thou reliest upon no external help, but upon

Truth alone,

And when thou art ceaselessly watchful over thy

thoughts and actions–

Then will the three lesser powers be thine,

And with these powers thou wilt dispel the Great

Darkness,

Thou wilt approach the Supreme Light ;

Approaching the Supreme Light, thou wilt become

steadfastly fixed in Truth.

Thou wilt become patient with an infinite patience,

And gentle with a gentleness which nothing can

change or mar ;

Then will the three greater powers be thine ;

Then wilt thou come to the end of the path of

discipline,

And wilt ascend unto the higher path of knowledge

;

Walking the path of knowledge thy sorrow will

cease.

Thy darkness will pass away for ever,

And joy and light will wait upon thy footsteps.

Disciple. I am reassured, O Master ! and am strong

to proceed :

I am obedient to thee, and will submit to thy

discipline,

For thou hast comforted me with the word of

knowledge ;

Thou hast strengthened me with the exhortation of

Truth.

Thou hast instructed me with the instruction of

enlightenment.

Master. Blessed is he who obeys the Truth,

He shall not remain comfortless, but shall receive

the benediction of peace.

4. Of Renunciation

Disciple. Teacher divine ! Thy light is breaking in

upon my mind,

I now know the cause of my sorrow and suffering ;

I apprehend the sorrows of mankind,

For my sufferings are the sufferings of the world ;

I see that sorrow and suffering are rooted in self.

That evil and woe are in the desires of self,

And that all the desires of self must be relin-

guished,

Guide me, O Master ! into the way of self-sacrifice

;

Teach me how to abolish self from the mind;

Reveal to me the truth about renunciation.

Master. Renunciation, O disciple ! is twofold;

There is renunciation in the letter ;

There is also renunciation in the spirit.

The renunciation of outward things and particular

acts only–

This is the false renunciation in the letter ;

The renunciation of inward desires and

defilements–

This is the true renunciation in the spirit.

Beware, O learner ! of the renunciation which is

false ;

Perform thou the renunciation which is true.

Disciple. Instruct me further in the renunciation

which is according to Truth,

Then I will embrace and perform it;

So shall I avoid the renunciation which is erroneous

and misleading.

Master. Seek no gratification in the things which

thou doest ;

Look not for reward in the things wherein thou

strivest ;

Do all thy duties meekly, putting away desire–

This is the true renunciation.

Do not think of gain or loss to thyself ,–

Think not to obtain pleasure and avoid pain in thy

acts ;

Do all things faithfully that are necessary to be

done–

This also is the true renunciation.

Sever not thyself from the world,

But relingnish all love for the world and its

pleasures ;

Do thy work in the world without thought of

personal ends–

This, again, is the true renunciation.

Not by the outer things of the world is a man

defiled ;

He is defiled by the low desires of his heart.

To renounce the world, and not to relinguish to

clinging to self–

This is the false renunciation.

Not from riches or poverty,

Not from wife or children,

Not from power and servitude–

Not from these things do afflictions spring.

From indolence and self - indulgence,

From lust and coveteousness,

From hatred and pride–

From these things only do afflictions spring.

Renounce the evil within, and the things of the

world will not defile thee ;

Put away all thought of self, and whatsoever thou

doest it will bring to thee no suffering;

In all thy duties forsake the thought of self, and

sorrow will never overtake thee.

He who quitteth a duty that is irksome,

Seeking happiness thereby ;

He who fleeth from the scene of temptation.

Seeking strength thereby;

He who abandoneth his obligations,

Seeking bliss thereby,–

Such a man, O disciple ! falsely renounces ;

He is deluded, and will not attain to purity of heart.

As a brave soldier, when death is inevitable does

not desert his post,

Thinking of duty only, and not of self-preservation,

So he who renounces truely, remains in his place in

the world,

Performing all his duties steadfastly, not thinking of

self.

Renounce self, O disciple !

Renounce all the tendencies of self;

Renounce all the passions and prejudices of self;

Renounce all the errors and egotism of self;

Such is the true renunciation ;

Such is the sacrifice which leads to enlightenment

and peace.

Disciple. What, O Master! are the tendencies of the

self ?

Master. Lust and self-indulgence,

Self - seeking and avarice,

Hatred and anger,

Vanity and pride,

Doubt and fear–

These are the tendencies of self;

These are the things that must be renounced

; Disciple. And these things, O spirit immaculate ! I

will renounce ;

I will obliterate them from my mind ;

I will abolish them from my inmost heart ;

For now I see how they lead men into ways of

blindless ;

That they make snares of suffering for the feet of

men ;

That they dig deep pits of sorrow for men to fall

therein.

I rejoice, O Divine One ! in that which thou hast

revealed to me ;

For thou hast opened unto me the highway of

holiness ;

Thou hast pointed out to me the straight path

of peace;

Thou hast shown me how to walk the sure way of

wisdom.

Thee will I follow; lead me to thy Law.

Master. Blessed is he who follows where I lead ;

He shall ascend unto high and Heavenly Places;

He shall behold with the vision that is faultless ;

He shall see with the eye of truth which

comprehendeth all things.

5. Of Purity of Heart

Disciple. While I am undergoing thy discipline and

purification,

While walking the holy way of renunciation,

Let me behold the beauty of thy Purity ;

Reveal to me the Purity which is divine ;

For I would know the Highest, even Truth :

I would gaze upon thy face, O Master !

I would behold thy glory ;

I would see thee as thou art.

Master. He who rightly renounces,

Who humbly purges his heart of self,

Who diligently searches for Truth not for selfish

pleasures,

He, my lonely one, shall find my Purity ;

He, my faithful one, shall surely see my face,

He, my chosen one, shall come to me at last.

Disciple. Thou art my refuge and my dwelling-

place ;

My eyes, I know, will rest on thee at last ;

My heart at last will stay itself on thee.

Show me the highest and holiest way,

Even the stainless way of Purity.

Master. Thou art ready to be washed free from thy

defilements ;

As a vessel thou art ready to be cleansed ;

And when thou art cleansed thou shalt be filled

with the pure Water of Truth.

By these four things is the heart defiled–

The craving for pleasures,

The clinging to temporal things,

The love of self,

The lust for personal continuance:

From these four defilements spring all sins and

sorrows Wash thou thy heart ;

Put away sensual cravings ;

Detach the mind from the wish for possession;

Abandon self defence and self-importance ;

And do not long for personal immortality.

Thus putting away all cravings, thou wilt attain to

satisfaction;

Detaching thy mind from the love of perishable

things, thou wilt acquire wisdom;

Abandoning the thought of self, thou wilt come to

peace ;

And not lusting for eternal life, thou wilt realise the

incorruptible Truth.

He is pure who is free from desire ;

Who does not crave for sensual excitements ;

Who sets no value on perishable things;

Who is the same in riches and poverty,

In success or failure,

In victory or defeat,

In life or death;

Who does not set up his own opinions ;

Who is willing not to be ;

Lo ! he it is who possesses my Pureness ;

His happiness remains;

His rest is sure ;

His peace is not disturbed;

He knows what constitutes holiness ;

He understands the stainlessness of Truth.

Disciple. I will cleanse my heart with the cleansing

of Truth ;

I will be pure as thou art pure ;

I will put away the thought of pleasure ;

I will not covet perishable things;

My personality I will regard as of no importance,

Ceasing to crave for its eternal continuance.

Death comes to all men, and the tears of sorrow

flow ;

But Truth is eternal, and its knowledge leads to

peace.

I followed self, but it was filled with pain;

I followed the world but it was fraught with heavy

sorrow ;

But now, O Master of Truth I follow thee,

And thou art leading me to bliss unspeakable ;

Thou directest my steps into the way of purity and

peace.

Master. Be strenuous in effort,

Strong in resolution ;

Patient in endurance;

So wilt thou overcome all sin;

Thou wilt become divinely pure;

Sorrow and pain thou wilt altogether subdue

And thou wilt acquire joy and strength and

equanimity.

6. Of Righteousness

Master. Stand up, Son of Light I and put on the

garment of righteousness ;

Rejoice ! and enter the glad way of holiness ;

Open thine eyes, and behold the glory of Truth;

For thou hast been faithful and obedient;

Thou hast been patient and enduring ;

Thou hast conquered and overcome.

The Great Enemy, even self, thou hast slain;

The Great Darkness, even the darkness of

ignorance, thou hast dispersed ;

The Great Veil, even the veil of illusion, thou hast

torn asunder.

Henceforth thou shalt walk in the way of

knowledge,

Thou shalt dwell with peace,

Thou shalt bask in the light of immortality.

Rise up, Son of Truth ! in my divine dignity;

Put on the shining life of righteousness;

For thou art no longer self, thou art Truth,

Thy deeds will be according to the Eternal,

And thou wilt be a beacon to mankind.

Disciple. Now, O Master ! I see thee as thou art;

I see thy ineffable beauty and glory.

How can darkness dwell where thou art ?

How can sin and sorrow approach thee ?

I am dazzled by the power of thy majesty ;

Thou art Truth ! Thou art the Eternal!

And he who knoweth thee, liveth in thy light;

He doeth the deeds of light and not of darkness.

Point out to me now, O Master ! the righteous way ;

Reveal unto me the jewels of the perfect life ;

Instruct me in the doing which is according to the

Eternal,

So that I may be watchful, and fail not.

Master. Unrighteous is he whose acts are born of

self;

Righteous is he whose acts are born of Truth:

The unrighteous man is swayed by his feelings ;

Likes and dislikes are his masters ;

Prejudices and partialities blind him ;

Desiring and suffering,

Craving and sorrowing,

Self - control he knows not, and great is his unrest.

The righteous man is master of his moods ;

Likes and dislikes he has abandoned as childish

things;

Prejudice and partiality he has put away.

Desiring nothing, he does not suffer;

Not craving enjoyment, sorrow does not overtake

him ;

Perfect in self-control, great peace abides with him;

Do not condemn, resent or retaliate;

Do not argue, or become a partisan ;

Maintain thy calmness with all sides;

Be just, and speak truth.

Act in gentleness, compassion, and charity;

Be infinitely patient:

Hold fast to Love, and let it shape thy doing :

Have goodwill to all, without distinction :

Think equally of all, and be disturbed by none;

Be thoughtful and wise, strong and kind-hearted.

Be watchful, that no thought of self again creep in

and stain thee.

Think of thyself as abolished, dispersed :

In all thy doing think of the good of others and of

the world,

And not of pleasure or reward to thyself.

Thou art no longer separate and divided from men,

Thou art one with all ;

No longer strive against others for thyself,

But sympathise with all;

Regard no man as thine enemy,

Thou art the friend of all men.

Be at peace with all;

Pour out compassion on all living things;

Let boundless charity adorn thy words and deeds–

Such is the glad way of Truth.

Such is the doing which is according to the Eternal.

Filled with joy is the right-doer,

He acts from principles which do not change and

pass away ;

Abandoning personality, he has become a power ;

He is one with the Eternal, and has passed beyond

unrest.

The peace of the righteous man is perfect;

It is not disturbed by change and impermanence ;

Freed from passion, it is equal-minded, calm, and

does not sorrow ;

He sees things as they are, and is no more

confused.

Disciple. Thou has clothed me, O Master ! with

righteousness ;

The perfect life thou hast revealed to me ;

Thou hast shown me the holy and the happy way.

Self is abolished, and I am thine ;

My thoughts are thy thoughts,

My words are thy words,

My deeds are thy deeds ;

Thou art eternal, and all my doing shall be from

thee.

Allayed is the fever of life ;

Dispersed is all the darkness of the mind;

Uncertainty and unrest have vanished away;

Sin and suffering are ended, and peace abides for

ever.

Master. Thou hast opened thine eyes to the Eternal

Light;

Thou art no more self-deceived nor self-afflicted.

Enter now, O disciple ! the highway of divine

knowledge,

And receive the bliss of immortality.

7. Of Knowledge of the Law

Disciple. Show unto me now, O Master ! the

Perfect Knowledge ;

Reveal unto me the working of thy Law ;

Illuminate my mind with the wisdom of

enlightenment,

Master. The Law of Life is perfect;

Nothing can be added to it or taken from it;

It cannot be altered or improved ;

None can avoid or escape it ;

Its operations are just;

It is eternal, and abides in the midst of change;

By it all things are protected, and there is no

confusion :

The good is preserved in bliss and peace,

The evil is purified with punishment and suffering;

Knowledge it crowns with calmness,

Ignorance it scourges with unrest;

It works with twofold action :

It is Eternal Causation ;

It takes note of every thought and deed.

Thou hast attained, O disciple, to spiritual vision ;

Look now upon the world and tell me what thou

seest.

Disciple. I see, O Master! the Great Darkness

called Ignorance;

I see lurking therein the smouldering sparks of

desire;

I see how those sparks gather strength;

They intensify into flaming passions ;

And over all mankind are heavy clouds of sorrow,

And these are for the quenching of passions.

Master. Thou hast well seen.

Look again, and say what thou beholdest.

Disciple. My sight hath pierced the cloudy veil of

sorrow,

And above all I see the Great Light called Truth,

And there is no darkness therein,

No desires can enter there.

And there are no consuming passions ;

There is no weeping and no unrest.

Master. Thou hast seen, O disciple, the Law of Life

;

Thou hast perceived the twofold action of the Law.

There is ignorance which fosters desire ;

Desire is the painful hunger to obtain;

It is also the feverish clinging to that which is

obtained;

Thence arises separation from the thing desired,

And this is suffering and sorrow.

From desire also arises egotism or selfishness,

Thus is created an illusory self,

And in the delusion of the self is the nightmare of

the world‘s woe.

Thus man suffers by the action of the Law;

He can also escape suffering by the action of the

Law.

When desire is abandoned, the painful hunger of

the mind is cured,

The burning fever of clinging to things is assuaged,

And there is no separation and sorrow :

Thence arises union with all that is,

And this is satisfaction, bliss, and peace.

From non-desire also proceed Humility and Love;

The delusion of a permanent and separate

individuality is destroyed ;

The preservation of the self is abandoned.

And thus is cut away the ground of hatred, and

pride, and selfishness ;

Then arises holiness ;

The reality of things is revealed;

Truth is perceived, comprehended and known,

And this is the knowledge of the Law ;

This is the bliss of immortality.

Disciple. Very simple is the Law, O Truth ! yet who

shall comprehend it ?

Beautiful to behold, yet who can gaze upon it ?

Faultless in equity, yet who will listen, and receive

it ?

Master. The pure-hearted one receives, beholds,

and comprehends;

He acts with the action that is not attained by sin ;

His charity is without limit, it embraces all living

things;

He perceives with the vision that does not err.

He does not condemn, knowing the Perfect Law,

And knowing the Perfect Law, he has entered into

peace,

Disciple. Where knowledge is perfected, peace

abides.

Great is the calmness of the wise.

Deep is the peace of the pure,

Perfect the bliss of them that know the Truth.

Stilled are the tempests of the mind,

There is no more perturbation.

There is a haven for the storm-tossed.

A home for them that are lost and forsaken.

A refuge for all who wander in the Night.

I have found thee, thou eternal One, at last !

Master. Thou hast sought and found ;

Thou hast fought and conquered ;

Thou hast striven and attained ;

He who has afflicted has become the healer of men

:

The child has become the Instructor.

The pupil has become the Teacher.

The disciple and the Master are one;

What I am, that thou art.

Abide with Me in Peace.

Benediction

And now peace abides.

Self is dispersed and there is no more anguish;

Truth is attained, and affliction has ceased to be ;

The pilgrimage of pain is finished,

There is no more toil and darkness,

There is no more doubt and weeping,

Unrest and sorrow have vanished away.

Love folds the world; to all that suffer, Peace !

Part III: The Divine Messages

I, a Sower,

Cast forth this seed upon the broad plains of the

world.

And leave it to the watchful care of the Supreme.

The Divine Messages

The First Prophecy, called the Awakening

SONS of Light, I salute you.

Children of the Morning, I greet you.

Awake ! arise! and rouse ye them that slumber!

I proclaim to you the advent of the Morning;

The dawn of the New Day is upon every living

thing,

And down the holy Mountain cometh the Light of

Love, the Lowly One,

Bringing good tidings and publishing peace.

And this is the majesty of the Morning,–

That evil shall flee from the valleys,

And hardly shall darkness find a lodging-place:

For where light is, there is no darkness ;

Where good is, evil is dispersed,

Where peace is, strife is destroyed;

Where love is, all hatred has ceased;

Where purity is, all sin is overcome,

And from the abode of Truth all error has fled

away.

And this is the joy of the Morning,–

That evil is conquered, and Good is triumphant;

That the glory of Truth is revealed;

That the Path of Perfection is opened up,

And the bliss of a holy life is partaken of.

And this is the consummation of the

Morning,–

That darkness is dispelled by Light

Ignorance by Knowledge,

Illusion by Reality,

And error by Truth.

And the majesty of the Morning is revealed;

And the joy of the Morning is comprehended ;

And the consummation of the Morning is realised.

Ye who have waited, come now, and gaze your fill:

Upon the Heights the coming of the King is

announced,

Even the King of Peace;

And they who are stricken and afflicted shall be

made glad;

The mourners and they that sorrow shall look up,

and rejoice:

The chains of them that are bound shall be broken,

and they shall go free;

The defiled shall be cleansed and purified,

And the weary and travel-stained shall be at rest.

Come, ye that are thirsty, and drink ;

Come, ye that hunger, and be filled;

For the Water of Immortality is found,

And the Bread of Life is made known.

Awake, ye sleepers, and shake off the dreams of

illusion !

Rouse ye from the stupor of mortality !

And slumber no more in the realm of self !

For the Master of Compassion is revealed,

The Law of Good is expounded,

And the Great Reality of a stainless life is

accomplished !

The Truth of the ages is made plain;

In the tabernacle of the holy heart it is revealed.

The guileless perceive it;

The righteous hear it;

The holy realise it.

It is manifested in all its glory in the conqueror of

sin.

Ye that search in the darkness,

Come now unto the Light;

Ye that see the evil and the woe without,

Come with me, and I will show you its source:–

Go ye into the secret chambers of your hearts,

Seek there until ye find ;

Meditate there until ye awake.

He that dreams in self is asleep in Truth.

The dreamer can neither know himself nor the

awakened ;

The awakened knoweth both himself and the

dreamer,

He also knoweth the emptiness of the thing

dreamed.

The sleeper in self is involved in evil ;

He is encompassed with darkness;

He is surrounded with woe ;

Such is the plight of the dreamer,

And the source, continuance, and end of evil are

hidden from him.

Awake ! therefore, ye that sleep !

Awake from the sleep of lust !

Awake from the slumber of hatred !

Come out of the painful dreams of avarice, self-

indulgence, vanity and pride !

Shake off the nightmare of doubt!

Be drugged no more by groundless faith,

By error, and the clinging unto death !

End ye the sleep of self, and awake in the Reality

of Truth !

For the end of self is the beginning of Truth.

Behold, the glorious Truth !

Awake ! awake ! awake ! ye are sleeping I ye

are dreaming ! Awake! Sons of the Morning, and

fill the

world with music.

Come ye, and dwell in the Light;

Come ye, and tread the Path of Perfection ;

Come ye, and be exalted with the exaltation of

Holiness,

So shall ye. know the supreme Love and Peace.

The Second Prophecy, called the Messiah

CONSIDER the signs of the times:

War is rampant, strife is raging,

And the fires of passion are devastating the earth ;

Nation is opposed to nation, creed to creed and

system to system :

Science has discovered its own weakness,

Philosophy has confounded philosophy,

And a confusion of mental tongues has become

universal.

Yet in the height of all this confusion,

In the midst of the fierce clash of prejudice and

passion,

One has descended whose name is Love,

Whose mission is Peace,

And whose end is Unity.

Walking in the midst is He,

But men know Him not because of their infirmities

;

Yet at His touch the blind receive their sight,

The deaf hear, and the lame walk.

Silently, holily is He working in isolated hearts:

Here and there a disciple is called,

And he hears and follows;

And the disciple knows his Master, and the Master

His disciple.

The Chosen Few have not been deaf to the

command, "Follow Me",

And they have followed with sure and certain steps.

They have gazed upon the face of the Serene One ;

They have sat at the feet of the Perfect One;

They have accepted the instruction of the Holy

One,

And peace abides with them.

They walk amongst men, and are not discerned ;

They have relinquished all strife in their inmost

hearts,

Hating none, condemning none ;

They have entered the Gate of Forgiveness;

Goodwill is the breath of their nostrils,

And boundless charity is the master of their

thoughts. They have ceased from vain longings ;

They have chased away all fluctuating desires;

They have passed through the Gate of Sacrifice,

They have clothed themselves with the Garment of

Humility,

They tread the Path of Good, and their gait is

steadfast.

Fear and doubt they have dispersed ;

They walk upon the turbulent waters of sorrow,

And they sink not, and are comforted.

They are no longer confounded by false philosophy

;

They have passed through the Sea and the Desert,

And have entered the Promised Land.

And these are they who have been born again for

the salvation of the world ;

In the time of darkness, they have accepted the

Light;

In the time of evil, they have chosen the Good;

In the day of self-seeking, they have silenced the

many voices of self,

And have followed the One Voice whose music

harmonises all.

Therefore, they rejoice;

Not blind to the evil,

But because the Omniscient One has shown them

the end of evil;

Yea, in themselves they have already accomplished

that end,

For they have become One with Him whom they

have followed.

All that belongs to the world they have given to the

world,

And they have not murmured.

The clouds of confusion do not darken them,

And the fires of passion do not scorch them;

Therefore let gladness reign !

For with the great darkness of these times, there has

also come great Light ;

Though the rivers of sorrow are swollen high,

The banks are perfumed with the flowers of

blessedness ;

Though strife is raging, Peace has entered into the

midst ;

Though confusion has covered the earth, unity has

been revealed ;

And though many continue to dream the dreams of

illusion,

The vision of the Great Reality has gladdened the

ken of the wakeful.

Awake, ye sleepers! Arouse yourselves, ye

dreamers !

When will ye open your eyes, and see ?

The Perfect One has appeared!

The stainless majesty of the Holy One is revealed ;

His sleepless watchers have hailed Him,

And He has borne away their weariness.

Come, then, ye sorrowing, and be glad !

Come, ye weary, and find peace !

Come, ye toilers, and be at rest !

For the longing of the ages is fulfilled,

And He whom we call Master has appeared :–

He is the sacred inmost heart of Love.

The Third prophecy, called the All - One

TO do good and to remain unknown,

Let this be called Humility ;

To bless one‘s persecutors,

Let this be called Love ;

To rejoice at the good fortune of one‘s enemies,

Let this be called Perfection :

Thus is the All-One manifested,

Thus is the Truth made known.

The knowers of the All-One are perfect ;

They are without sin,

Dwelling in Truth and robed with holiness.

Behold ! the All-One is revealed,

He is made known to His worshippers ;

The garment of evil has fallen away from them,

And they have put on the perfect garment of Good;

The old bottles of error are broken,

And the new bottles of Truth are filled with the

Wine of Life.

The believers in the-All-One drink and are

satisfied.

And the doers of His word enter into the joy of

immortality.

And who are they that believe in the All-One?

Who are the doers of His Word ?

The believer and doer is known by these sure

signs,–

He is freed from ignorance and is not enslaved by

likes and dislikes ;

He is freed from hatred, and does not condemn ;

He is freed from partiality, and does not engage in

strife ;

He is freed from self-seeking, and does not defend

himself.

He never lets go of patience ;

He does not doff the robe of Purity;

He goes not out from the dwelling-place of Love.

The knower of the All-One is perfect in knowledge.

He is blameless in thought, word, and deed.

The All-One is sought by practice,

He is perceived by knowledge,

And he is realised by the perfection of practice and

the consummation of knowledge.

To rise above good and evil,

Hatred and love,

Prejudice and error,

Desire and pain,

Self - love and sorrow,

Passion and remorse,

Life and death,

Is to enter the unending peace of the All-One,

Is to realise the immortality of the All-One,

Is to become the All-One.

The All - One is that Perfect Good which is beyond

both good and evil;

He is that Perfect Love which neutralises love and

hate;

He is that Perfect Life which is not broken by life

and death.

He that would know Him, let him become His

disciple.

Let him remove the ever - changing opposites

within until he comes to that which changes not;

So shall he find the Eternal Rock,

Even the blessed All-One, the Master of peace.

He that searches without, he shall not find ;

He that is proud of his knowledge, he shall not

find;

He that fortifies himself against others, he shall not

find ;

Realise, O disciple! thine inward error,

Thine inward ignorance,

Thine inward delusion rooted in self ;

And, having realised, leave error and cling to Truth;

Fly from ignorance to the knowledge that is pure.

And fortify thyself against the enemies within

thyself.

By this way is the All-One approached,

By none other is He accessible;

He that is willing to be naked to self, let him come

and be clothed with Truth ;

He that is willing to die to error, let him come and

be reborn as a child of Truth;

He that is willing to become empty, let him come

and be filled with the knowledge of the All - One.

The Good that is supreme,

The Humility that is sublime,

The love that transcends all sorrow,–

To this attainment shall he surely come

Who seeks the All-One by the Path of Peace.

The Fourth Prophecy, called Unrest

HE voice of the Spirit to the children of the flesh,–

This is darkness,–to be enslaved by sin ;

This is light,–to be free from sin.

There is a place of darkness,

A dwelling - place of deep darkness,

And they who abide there cry out of their unrest,

They cry and are not heard, because their cry is of

self;

They call upon their God, but the silence is not

broken ;

The echo of their own voice they hear, and it

affrights them.

And they remain in their sins.

And remaining in their sins, they shall cry,–

"We have sown wheat and have reaped straw,

We have ploughed, but we have no produce of our

labour,

And lo ! the Great Famine is upon us.

We stored away much grain, but the rats have

devoured it;

We put away much fruit, but it has decayed, and the

long winter is before us ;

We bartered, and acquired much gold, yet we

perish,

For some the thief has stolen, and the rest is

mouldy.

What shall we purchase, having no Bread?

There is no Bread, and no seller of Bread ;

We die, and there is none to save us !"

And again, in their deep bitterness, they shall say,–

"We have toiled mightily, but we have no reward;

That which we built is destroyed,

That which we made secure is undermined,

And all our wonderful works are crumbling away.

We ate and slept, but now we are afflicted,

We made sacrifices, yet now we are deserted,

We built ourselves pleasant mansions, and there is

no rest in them.

Our sorrows are as the deep seas,

Our miseries are as the great mountains,

Our woes are many, and our pains are great.

There is no cure for our diseases,

There is no relief for our sorrows,

We are weary, and there is no rest !"

So shall they cry, and they shall not be heard;

So shall they suffer, and shall not be relieved ;

And they shall seek for rest, and shall not find it ;

For in the place of darkness,

In the dwelling-place of deep darkness,

There is no remedy,

There is no redress,

There is no salvation.

Where self is lord and king there is no peace.

Ye who are in the way of impurity,

Ye who are the subjects of self,

Listen, though ye understand not.

Hear,–for the day cometh when the precepts of the

prophet are remembered,

And his words are burnt into the heart with brands

of fire,–

Where there shall come upon you the night which

is more than darkness,

The hunger which is more than famine,

And the deprivation which is more than death,

When Love shall be crucified, and hatred be set

free,

When peace shall be banished, and strife be

glorified.

When righteousness shall be mocked, and

confusion shall flourish,

And the voice of the prophet is no longer heard;–

When that time comes, and ye cry, and are not

heard,

Suffer, and are not relieved,

Sorrow, and are not comforted,

Remember this,–

He that rouseth himself early seeth the sun rise,

He that watcheth diligently and taketh a light,

findeth his way out of the darkness,

And he that striveth with an uncomplaining heart,

is crowned with the Crown of Peace.

The Fifth Prophecy, called Transition

THE Voice of the Spirit to the children of sorrow,–

Arise ye ! Awake !

Open your eyes, and see !

Why will ye sleep the sleep that is painful ?

Come out of the night of unrest,

Out of the dark nightmare of sin and affliction !

For there is a Way out of the place of darkness,

And out of the dwelling-place of deep darkness a

Pathway that is sure.

There shall be light and safety,

There shall be rest and healing,

There shall be joy and satisfaction.

There shall be no more dreaming for him who is

awake,

Who says, with deep resolve, "I will abandon self,

and Truth shall be my Lord".

And thus resolving, there shall appear upon his

right hand a Gateway that is dark,

And upon his left hand a portal pleasant to behold ;

And he shall stoop and enter the Gateway that is

dark,

And there shall come behind him mockeries and

revilings, and laughter that stingeth:

And, entering, he shall take up two swords.

The first is called the Sword of Searching,

And the second is called the Sword of Dividing;

And with the Sword of Searching he shall destroy

the enemies of Wisdom,

And with the Sword of Dividing he shall sever

Good from evil.

He shall encounter all the enemies of Light;

Them that cast the Great Shadow he shall disperse,

And the strong keepers of the keys of hell he shall

put to rout.

He shall pass through the Fire called Suffering and

it shall not devour him;

He shall cross the dark Ocean called Sorrow, and it

shall not swallow him up;

And when he cometh to the Great Desert called

Desertion, he shall not turn back.

And he shall come out of all his darkness,

He shall find the Shadowless Light.

Upon the outermost edge of the Great Darkness he

shall hear a Voice,

The Voice of the Holy One,

Then shall he know that the King of Truth is near,

And that there cometh the anointed Prince of

Peace.

And he shall follow the Voice because it is gentle

and true,

And it shall lead him to the eternal abode of Light,

Where every veil shall be lifted, and every mystery

solved.

And he shall perceive the majesty of the Master of

Truth ;

He shall behold the beauty of the Law of

Righteousness ;

He shall gaze upon the glory of the Great Reality;

He shall hear the song of the redeemed,

Even this the sweet song of salvation :–

Sin is destroyed,

How perfect is the Law !

Sorrow is slain,

How mighty is Love !

The clouds of affliction are dispersed,

How glorious is the Light !

Error is fallen,

How immaculate is the Truth !

Awake ! ye sleepers,

Rejoice in the Truth !

Look up I ye fallen,

And rejoice in the Light !

Let the thirsty come and drink,

Let the hungry come and eat,

Let the dying come and live,

Salvation abounds, and redemption is sure.

And entering the Gate of Peace, the empires of this

world shall be to him as dust,

Its glories as clouds that are dispersed,

Its pleasures as chaff that is carried away,

And its pursuits as houses having no-foundation;

And the Voice of the Holy One shall say unto him,–

"Conqueror of self, Slayer of sin and sorrow,

Disperser of shadows and illusions,

Put away the Sword of Searching,

And let the Sword of Dividing be sheathed;

Here are no sorrows,

Here is no darkness and affliction,

And strife and division cannot enter here.

Lowly doer of righteousness, thou hast found my

Law,

Silent seeker of Truth, thou hast found my Peace,

Lover of meekness and Good, thou hast found Me;

Take up thy abode in my eternal Habitation,

Thy warfare is ended, and thy rest is achieved."

The Sixth Prophecy, called Peace

THE Voice of the Spirit to the children of Truth,–

Rejoice, and be glad I Yea, be filled with gladness !

For the Great Task is completed, and there is no

more labour ;

The Long Journey is ended, and there is no more

weariness ;

The days are numbered, and the Saviour has come.

There is peace upon the hills, and in the valleys a

tumult of great joy,

For the Child who is Love and Wisdom is

apprehended,

And the Kingdom which is Goodwill and Peace is

proclaimed.

Sing, ye holy ones !

Ye pure and peaceful, let your voices be heard !

Truth is established, and righteousness reigneth.

There is joy for every sorrow,

This is oil for every wound,

And there is healing for every broken heart.

For the weary there is a rest that endureth,

For the wandering an eternal refuge,

And for the despairing and tempest-tossed a

harbour of great gladness,

Fur there is sinlessness of heart.

Out of the dark places of self,

Beyond the uncertain valley of Transition,

Is found the peaceful Path of Holiness.

Upon the high Peaks of Purity,

Upon the Mountains of Righteousness,

Even upon the lofty Hills of Love,

There abideth eternal peace,

There awaiteth everlasting rest.

Whosoever will climb, let him come and see;

Whosoever will strive, let him come and know ;

Whosoever will overcome, let him come and enter

in.

The darkness is dispersed,

The power of evil is destroyed,

And the wheel of Fate is broken.

The Light abideth in eternal glory,

The power of Good is supreme,

And Righteousness and Love have broken every

bond.

Death is slain, for Life is known ;

Doubt is no more, for immortality is tasted;

Fear is cast out, for Perfect Love is revealed,

The King of Truth is near,

And He is Perfect Knowledge ;

The Lord of Life is at hand,

And He is Perfect Purity ;

The Saviour is here, and He is Perfect Love;

Therefore, peace abideth,

Yea, abideth for ever.

These things are made known to the righteous,

To the wise their glory is revealed,

And by the guileless alone are these three

Perfections comprehended ;

For he that is unholy knoweth only that which is

unholy ;

He that is holy knoweth holy things.

Perfection cannot be distorted,–

Behold its beauty !

Righteousness cannot be broken,–

How faultless are its proportions!

Truth remains undisturbed,–

How incomparable is its calm !

And because of this, there is great rejoicing,

Because of this, there is holy gladness,

Because of this, there is unending peace.

The First Exhortation, concerning Purity

THE Purity that is stainless,

To this I exhort men ;

To the Purity of the Highest I point the Sons of

Light.

I exhort also the children of error to the excellent

Way of Purity ;

For out of Purity groweth Truth,

And they who seek it, seek the heavenly Light.

Ye who are bound, come now and be free ;

Say not, "I am helpless", ye who are enslaved,

For the way of emancipation is opened up,

Yea, even salvation knocketh at your door.

Will you choose liberty ?

Or will ye rather choose to be bound ?

In Purity there is freedom,

Understanding dwelleth in her Temple,

And joy, and Gladness, and Peace are her

doorkeepers.

Come, then, and listen to the exhortation of Truth,

And, having listened, do that which is pure,

And doing that which is pure ye shall know the

supreme blessedness.

Not in thy acts alone shalt thou find Purity,

The Purity of the Highest is not confined to acts.

Not by cutting off thy acts shalt thou become pure,

But by cleansing the source of thy acts,

Even thy mind and heart,

For a pure mind cannot commit impure acts,

Neither can a stainless heart bring forth any

unlovely thing.

What, then, defileth, and what maketh clean?

The unchaste thought,

The impure desire,

The selfish inclination,

This defileth, and bringeth forth darkness and

death.

The pure thought,

The holy aspiration,

The unselfish love,

This cleanseth, and bringeth forth Light and Life.

Come, then, and see how straight is the narrow

Path of Purity !

Come and know how open and unsecret are the

beautiful Courts of Truth !

Come and understand how simple is the excellent

Law of Righeteousness!

Easy to find and pleasant to walk: is the path, of

Purity ;

Open wide, and inviting entrance, are the Gates of

Truth ;

Near at hand and ready for investigation is the Law

of Righteousness.

To harbour hateful thoughts,

To cherish lustful inclinations.

To nurture the seeds of malice in the heart,–

This defileth, and leadeth to suffering.

To thirst for pleasures and rewards,

To dwell upon the sins of others,

And to think, " I am better than this man,"–

This maketh impure and causeth thee to wander

from Truth.

To seek for thyself and not to consider others,

To depreciate others, and to think highly of thine

own Works,

And to make proud and stubborn thy heart,–

This staineth thy soul, and taketh thee away from

thy peace.

Behold how glorious is the Path of Purity !

How lovely is the treasury of Truth !

How comely and beautiful is the Garment of

Holiness !

To be free from hatred, lust and malice,–

How sweet ! How pleasant !

Not to desire pleasures and rewards,–

How good ! How joyful !

Not to magnify evil in others,–

How fair ! How lovely !

To put away all egotism,–

How beautiful! How peaceful !

The blessedness of a pure heart is beyond

conception;

The loveliness of a sinless mind is beyond

comparison ;

And supremely blissful is the immortality of the

righteous.

Peace-producing is the Purity of the Highest;

Joy - inspiring is the stainlest life,

And rich in wisdom is the heat that is sinless.

Ye who are tired of sin ;

Ye who know the bitterness of impurity;

Ye who seek the everlasting peace,

Come and enter the door of Purity And let Holiness

be your companion.

Purify your thoughts ;

Wash white the garment of your mind ;

Cleanse ye the secret places of your heart :–

This done, Truth shall come and dwell with You;

Knowledge shall be your lamp, and wisdom your

guide ;

Righteousness shall be your everlasting protection,

And Light, and Joy, and Peace shall abide with you

for ever.

The Second Exhortation, concerning

Humility

THE Humility that is blameless,

To this I exhort men ;

I point them to the sublime pathway of Humility.

Without Humility who shall see Truth?

Without Meekness who shall comprehend the All -

One ?

Without Lowliness who shall find the Great Reality

?

Love dwelleth with Humility,

Wisdom also abideth there ;

And peace remaineth with the lowly heart.

Put away thy Pride,

Think no more of thy superiority,

And purge thy mind of all its vanity ;

Then shall the Truth dignify thee.

Truth fleeth from pride ;

Wisdom departeth from egotism ;

And holiness and vanity cannot dwell together.

Out of Humility cometh Light,

But darkness dwells with vanity and pride.

Of what art thou proud ? O man ! of thy beauty ?

Corruption awaits it.

Of thy garments ?

The moth and the dust shall destroy them.

Of thy possessions ?

To - morrow another shall possess them.

Of thy talents ?

Their lusture shall be dimmed.

Of thy fame ?

It shall disappear as a mist Of thy learning ?

Even now it is surpassed.

Of thy! works ?

They shall vanish away for ever.

What, then, remaineth, if these things are as naught

?

Wisdom remaineth, and Truth and Love ;

And Joy and Peace and Enlightenment are

established.

But these cannot be known to the proud.

Neither can the vain man understand them,

And their glory is not revealed, to him that is

subject to self.

What can darkness reveal ?

And he who walketh in darkness, what shall he see

?

The proud are blinded by darkness;

The vain stumble and lose their way ;

And grief and desolation are the end of self.

The enlightenment of Humility is more than

learning ;

The power of Meekness is more than the strength

of many conquerors,

And he who makes lowly his mind establishes

himself upon a rock.

How shall the proud stand ?

They fall of their own weakness.

How shall the vain endure ?

They are as reeds without support.

How shall the self-seeking flourish ?

They are as barren seed blown about and finding no

soil.

Put on the Garment of Humility, and thou shalt not

fall ;

Make gentle thy heart, and thou shalt endure as the

mountain;

Put away self, and thy works shall flourish is seed

upon good soil.

The arrogant regard themselves as kings, But they

are less than serfs;

The meek regard themselves as serfs,

But they are more than kings,

How easily are the proud injured,

Every day they suffer pain ;

How often arc the vain wounded.

Weeping and sorrow are their portion ;

How readily do the selfish suffer deprivation,

Every day they grieve over that they have lost.

There is no pain in Humility,

Meekness destroyeth sorrow,

And the pure in heart can suffer no loss.

What can a man retain ?

What endureth ?

And where dwelleth immortality ?

The things of the world pass away, and none can

hold them ;

The body perishes, and is no more seen ;

And the opinions of men are as smoke in a high

wind.

Holiness can be retained,

Truth endureth,

And immortality dwelleth in the sinless heart.

I sought the world, but peace was not there ;

I courted learning, but Truth was not revealed

I sojourned with philosophy, but my heart was sore

with vanity

And I cried, " where is peace to be found ?

And where is the hiding - place of Truth ?"

In Humility I found peace,

In the practice of righteousness Truth was. revealed

;

And in self - obliteration I reached the end of pain

and vanity.

Bend low, Ye pilgrims;

Prostrate Yourselves, Ye weary and disconsolate;

Give up that ye love, ye stricken and afflicted;

For he that bendeth himself shall be straightened,

He that prostrateth himself shall be lifted up,

And whosoever relinquishes self shall see the end

of his afflictions.

Narrow and Low is the Portal of Humility,

But he that stoopeth, and entereth therein, shall

stand for ever.

The Third Exhortation, concerning Love

THE Love that is perfect,

To this I exhort men ;

Even to the Love of the Highest.

How beautiful to behold is Love!

How glorious to contemplate !

And in practice how sweet and full of gladness!

To find Love is to find Perfection;

To know Love is to know the Eternal;

To practise Love is to manifest Truth.

But how is Love found ?

How is it revealed in the heart ?

How is it practised and made manifest?

Not to be a partisan,

Not to practise hatred,

Not to engage in strife,

Not to practise deception,

Not to covet,

Not to retaliate,

Not to condemn,–

Not to do all these is to find Love.

To put away prejudice,

To rid the mind of pride and vanity,

To disperse doubt and fear,

To wash from the heart the stains of desire.

To purify the mind of every defilement,–

To do all these is to know Love.

To be always patient,

To be supremely calm,

To be ceaselessly holy,

To be forgiving to the uttermost,

And to be equal - minded towards enemies as

towards friends,–

To be all these is to manifest Love.

Where Love is, Light is,

Where Love is not, there is impenetrable darkness.

Where Love is, Life is ;

Where Love is not, there is the deeper death.

Where Love is, Truth is ;

Where Love is not, there is error and confusion

Love changes not, for Love is Truth ;

Love sins not, for Love is perfect;

Love grieves not, for Love is the Eternal;

Love is not subject to birth and death, for Love is

Immortality.

How illusory is the world!

How fleeting and empty are the pleasures of the

world !

How real is Love!

How steadfast and full of peace is the life of Truth!

How vain are the pursuits of men!

How heavy is the weariness of self !

But the practice of righteousness is fruitful.

And sweet is the peace of Truth.

He who hath Love hath all things,

The Master dwelleth in Love,

In Love the Great Reality abides,

And the wonderful Peace is only found by Love.

The Purity of the Highest is there,

The majesty of humility also,

And he who adjusts his heart to Love is perfect

Seek self, and Love shall be withheld from you;

Seek Love, and lo! it is already with you.

Who seeketh enlightenment ?

Who seeketh Truth ?

Who seeketh Love ?

Let him that seeketh, come, and say,–

" Open ! ye doors of Purity !

Be closed no more, ye narrow portals of Humility!

Swing open wide, ye everlasting gates of Love !

And his voice shall be heard in the innermost

places:

He shall not cry in vain, nor shall he lose his way.

But shall pass through to his everlasting rest.

Instruction, concerning the Master

TO the obedient and the ready ;

To all who are willing to understand ;

To those wandering in the darkness, and: unable to

perceive the Light: –

Come now, and listen ;

Come now, and be made glad;

Enter now into the revelation of Purity.–

The Master is not perceived by the senses,

Not comprehended by the reason,

Not realised by argument.

Not on the hills, nor in the valleys ;

Not in the earth, nor sky, not in any outward thing

is the Master to be found.

Creeds and schools and books cannot contain Him,

He dwelleth within.

Cease from thine outward search, O weary one!

Cease from thy wanderings, O child of night !

In thine own heart dwelleth the Master ;

He is not hidden from thee but by thyself.

The Master is the inward Voice,

The inward Light,

The inward Peace.

Behold I show you the dwelling - place of the

Master,–

It is a purified heart,

He who hath broken the bonds of self,

Who hath slain desire,

Whose mind is quiet, conquered, and subdued,

Whose heart is calm and mild and full of peace,

He hath entered the presence df the Master,

Unto him the glory of the Master is revealed.

O thou who criest and receivest no answer !

O thou who wanderest and findest no rest !

O thou who searchest and findest no Light !

Bring hither thy fainting heart,

Bring hither thy blindness,

Come and listen to the instruction that is holy,

And, having listened, find satisfaction and rest.–

There are truths many, and there is one Truth,

Even the pure mind, the supremely Perfect Life:

There are saviours many, and there is one Saviour,

Even the supreme enlightenment of Wisdom:-

There are teachers many and there is one Teacher,

Even the glorious revelation of Righteousness:

There are masters many, and there is one Master,

Even the Spirit of Truth;

And Truth, Saviour, Teacher and Master are one.

Plain and unmistakable is the way which leadeth to

the Master,–

Overcome thyself, this is the Way.

Purify thy heart, and thou shalt gaze upon the face

of the Master.

Cling to self, and thou shalt not find Him;

Abandon self arid lo ! the Master abideth with thee.

The impure have no eyes to see the pure,

The darkness cannot penetrate the Light,

And immortality is hidden from that which is

perishable.

Therefore, leave that to which thou clingest.

Yield up thy desires,

And the satisfaction of the Master shall fil thee.

Yield up thy opinions,

And the Light of the Master shall illumine thee;

Go not after the evanescent and the perishable,

And thou shalt enter into the possession of the

Eternal and imperishable ;

Thou shalt become one with the Master,

And shalt dwell with Him in Immortality,

The Master waiteth,

Yea, eternally waiteth,

Patience is His name;

He departeth not from compassion,

And where Righteousness abides, there dwelleth

He.

Hidden is He in Love ;

Come unto Love, and thou shalt find Him.

The Light of Wisdom envelopeth Him ;

Purify thine understanding, and thou shalt know

Him.

The glory of Truth covereth Him up;

Relinguish self, and thou shalt see His Form.

Why perceivest thou not the Truth?

Why hearest thou not the Voice of the Master?

Thou perceivest not the Truth because of thine own

errors;

Thou hearest not the Master‘s Voice because the

voices of self clamour loudly within thee.

As clouds hide the face of the sun,

So the clouds of error hide the face of the Master;

Yea, the thick clouds of sin they shut Him but from

men.

Who, then, shall see the Master?

Who shall comprehend Him ?

Who shall dwell with Him?

Who shall hear His Voice ?

Even he who is of a pure heart ;

Who is gentle, compassionate, and infinitely

patient;

Who returneth meekness for anger,

Love for hatred,

Forgiveness for abuse,

And silence for condemnation.

Clothe thyself, therefore, in the Garment of

Humility;

Acknowledge thine errors,

Even thine inmost sins,

Thus confessing thyself,

thou shalt find the Way of Love,

And finding Love thou shalt find the Master ;

And finding the Master thou shalt be at rest.

Deny thyself ;

Subdue thyself ;

Conquer thyself.

Let not goodwill depart from thee ;

Be at peace with all, yea, even with the beasts,

So shall the highest Truth take up its abode within

thee ;

Unto thee the heart of the Master shall be revealed;

Sorrow and suffering and fear and doubt shall flee

far from thee,

And the knowledge of immortality shall fill thy

heart with peace.

Thus is the heart of the Master made known,

Thus is He revealed unto them that are ready to

receive Him.

Instruction, concerning the Law

TO the humble and the faithful ;

To them that are seeking humility and faith,–

There is one Supreme Law,

Even the Law of Good.

Think not that which is evil;

Say not that which is evil ;

Do not that which is evil,

Think that which is good ;

Say that which is good;

Do that which is good,

So shalt thou come to know the Law ;

By no other way can it be comprehended.

The knowledge of the Law maketh the heart glad,

It filleth the mind with joy,

It destroyeth all sorrow.

Suffering ceases for him who knows the Law,

Sin and grief and affliction leave him,

And wheresoever he goes, peace follows him.

Happy is he who has perceived the Law;

Blessed is he who practises it;

Divine is he who has become one with it.

Come, thou that searchest, weary and almost

hopeless,

Prostrate thyself in the dust of obedience;

Deny thyself to the uttermost ;

Leave all that thou art proud of;

Yea, sacrifice all ;

So shalt thou put on the yoke of Lowliness,

And shalt thou enter into a knowledge of the Law;

Then shalt thou come to know the three Names of

the Law of Good,–

The first is Justice;

The second, Righteousness;

The third, Love.

Men, loving self, deny these lofty names,

And have no knowledge of the Law of Good;

Wandering in the dark, they fall into treacherous

places,

And fear and doubt and sorrow and suffering dwell

with them.

Practise the inward Righteousness,

And thou shalt see the ineffable glory of the three

Names;

Thou shalt comprehend the Law of Good,

And bliss and peace shall fill thee.

To know the Law ;

To obey the Law ;

To practise the Law,–

This only is salvation,

This only is emancipation from error and unrest.

Supremely glorious is the Law of Good,

Supremely peace - giving is the knowledge of the

Law,

Supremely blessed is he whose pilgrim feet walk in

obedience to the Law.

He who says,–

I will no more cling to self ;

I will no more engage in strife ;

I will no more retaliate ;

I will no more judge and condemn.

Hitherto I have clung to self;

I have sought to gratify self ;

I have defended and protected myself ;

But now I will abandon self;

I will sacrifice and not defend myself ;

Yea, utmost crucifixion shall be mine.

I will love all men, and only myself will I

condemn;

The Garment of Humility shall cover me;

Righteousness and Love shall be my protection;

Even in the Highest will I take my refuge.

Goodwill shall be my guide ;

Compassion shall not depart from me.

And the divine gentleness of Truth shall guide my

thoughts and actions.

Thus will I cease from sin;

Thus will I practise the Highest Good.

He who thus resolves shall know the Law,

The Law of Good shall he comprehend ;

The fulness of its majesty shall be revealed to him,

And from all evil shall he be protected.

Therefore, let a man believe in Good ;

Let him cling to Good;

Let him practise Good;

He will thus come to comprehend himself;

Comprehending himself he will comprehend the

universe;

He will thus arrive at peace.

When a man‘s body is defiled, does he not wash it

and make it clean ?

When a man‘s heart is defiled, let him likewise

wash it, and be clean.

Five are the waters which wash away sin:–

Purity, which washes away all indulgences and

lusts;

Pity, which washes away all self-seeking and

indifference;

Humility, which washes away all prejudice and

pride ;

Joy, which washes away all covetousness and envy

;

Love, which washes away all hatred and

condemnation.

Whosoever will, let him come and be clean,

The waters are ready and waiting.

Blessed he is who is free from sin.

He knows the supreme Law of Good, and dwells in

peace.

Thus is the Law qf Good expounded ;

Thus is it spread abroad in the hearts of men.

Instruction, concerning The Great

Reality

TO the awakened and enlightened,

To those who seek to be awakened and

enlightened,–

There is darkness and there is Light ;

There is dreaming and there is Waking ;

There is illusion and there is Reality.

The darkness apprehendeth not the Light ;

The dreamer knoweth not his waking mind ;

And the wanderer in illusion is unacquainted with

Reality ;

Of two ways, therefore, one must be abandoned.

The dweller in darkness seeth nothing,

Not even himself,

His feet stumble, he knoweth not his way.

Abandon darkness, and thou shalt come unto the

Light;

Coming to the Light, thou shalt see all things:

Thou shalt know thy way, and thy feet shall cease

from stumbling.

The way of the dreamer is uncertain and painful;

Pleasure and terror afflict him ;

He knoweth not where he standeth;

He controlleth not himself, and is at the mercy of

the unreal.

Abandon the dreams of self, O thou that sleepest !

Awake ! open thine eyes to the Morning,

And thou shalt comprehend thine own divinity.

The walker in the way of illusion is surrounded

with shadows;

He perceiveth not the substance ;

Grasping at bubbles, he is scourged with grief and

disappointment;

Clinging to the perishable, he mourns,

And following after that which vanishes, he is

troubled with unrest.

Abandon the pathway of illusion,

The pathway of thy perishable self,

So shalt thou find the imperishable Truth;

Gladness shall take the place of mourning,

And thine eyes shall be opened to the glory of the

Great Reality.

What, then, is the Great Reality ?

The Great Reality is a stainless heart,

An enlightened understanding,

A soul whose perfect peace is not disturbed.

By the practice of righteousness only can the Great

Reality be known ;

He alone can perceive it who controls himself;

He alone can enter it who purifies himself ;

He alone can abide therein who is free from all sin.

In the Great Reality all religions and philosophies

culminate,

They meet here, and then vanish away,

For there is no division in the Great Reality,

Strife and unrest cannot enter there,

And he who comes to it is filled with peace.

Thou who wouldst understand the Great Reality ;

Thou who would‘st enter it, and know its peace;

Seek the One behind the many,

Seek the Silence behind the noise,

Seek Truth behind self ;

Seek for that which is holy and peace-giving,

Which abides, and does not pass away like the

morning dew.

Wisdom abides ;

Love abides ;

Compassion abides ;

Truth abides;

Therefore sacrifice self,

For self and all the things of self are perishable,

They belong to the unreal !

Awake, then, out of thy dreaming!

Disperse all thy shadows,

Destroy all thine illusions,

And thou shalt enter the Great Reality;

Filled with peace, thou shalt dwell with the Eternal

Harmonies ;

Filled with bliss, thou shalt sing the everlasting

Song,

The Song which thrills the spaces and the worlds ;

Thy Song and mine thus shalt thou sing,–

I have made the acquaintance of the Master of

Compassion;

I have put on the Garment of the Perfect Law ;

I have entered the realm of the Great Reality.

Wandering is ended, for Rest is accomplished ;

Pain and sorrow have ceased, for Peace is entered

into;

Confusion is dissolved, for Unity is made manifest;

Error is vanquished, for Truth is revealed.

Blessed is he who has resolved to abandon self:

Blessed is he who is pure;

Blessed is he who has destroyed all his illusions;

He has found the Great Reality at last.

The universe is glad, for again the Master is

revealed;

The universe is glad, for again the Law of Good is

expounded;

The universe is glad, for again the Great Reality is

comprehended.

Discourse Concerning The Way of Truth

1. Self - Restraint

WHAT is Truth ?

It resides in the silence of Perfect Deeds.

That silence is sufficient for the wise.

I, therefore, discourse not upon Truth,

I discourse upon the Way which leads thither;

For Truth is not of words, but of life,

And though Truth govern the tongue, its seat is not

there,

Its seat is in the heart.

What words shall add beauty to the ineffable?

And what man shall glorify Truth?

Let the ineffable give beauty to words,

And let man be glorified by Truth,

I, therefore, point the Way which leads to Truth.

Not by speculation do I point the Way,

But by practice and attainment:

The Way is named Self - conquest.

I write for believers,

For them that believe that self can be overcome.

I write not for them that deny that self can be

overcome,

And who thus exalt and give dominion to self.

He who believes, will walk the holy Way,

And, walking it, will reach the highest Truth.

Let him who thus believes, equip himself :–

Helmeted with Faith, Armoured with Patience,

And armed with the sharp Sword of Resolution,

He will be prepared to attack the enemies of Truth

within-himself;

He will enter upon the Practices of Truth.

By practice the artisan becomes accomplished in

his craft,

By practice the Truth - lover becomes

accomplished in Truth.

The Way of Truth is marked by three Great

Practices,–

The first is Self - Restraint,

The second, Self - Examination,

The third, Self- Surrender ;

These three include all others,

He who refuses to practise Self - Restraint,

Who says in his heart, –

" I will eat and drink, and make me garlands of

pleasure,"

He cannot find the Way which leads to peace.

But he who says within himself,–

" I will dwell with Abstinence,

I will make my abode with Chastity,

Integrity shall be my companion,

And faith shall light up my darkness,

Yea, Virtue shall be my refuge and my stay,"

He will find the Way which leads to Truth,

Lo! he hath already found it,

For the practice of virtue is the entrance to the Way.

The vicious man destroys, but the virtuous man

builds ;

He slays himself who thinks only of his own

pleasure;

He preserves himself who controls himself.

He who renounces pleasure, and restrains his

passions,

Preferring steadfastness and integrity to

gratification,

Will partake of the joys of virtue :

Pleasant will be his friendships,

Pure his affections,

And long and prosperous his days ;

Thus walking with virtue, happiness will wait upon

him,

Partial blessedness will be his portion,

And he will reach the first great Resting-Place;

Yet, staying there, he will not reach the Highest.

2. Self-Examination

He who seeks the Highest will enter upon the

practice of Self - Examination.

Searching the inmost recesses of his heart,

Following up the intricate threads of thought,

Rigorously testing the quality of his motives,

He will find out the hidden springs of desire,

He will lay bare the roots of the tree of life,

And finding the Eternal Cause, he will know both

Good and evil,

He will see the Highest, and will no more perish.

As a beautiful flower is formed, its growth not

being seen,

So will he grow in wisdom, unseen of men.

Yet when wisdom is fully formed,

When the flower of Truth becomes manifest in all

its beauty,

Men unacquainted with its silent growth will say.

"This man is wise, whence obtained he his wisdom

?

How knoweth this man letters, having never

learned?"

As a child in the womb.

As a plant in the earth,

As an object in the eye of the approaching traveller,

So wisdom is formed in the heart,

So knowledge grows in him who diligently

examines himself;

Who, having found the roots of evil,

Tears them up with the hands of Renunciation,

And burns them to ashes in the fire of Knowledge.

He who thus examines himself,

Who rectifies his inmost heart,

And rejects all the errors of his mind,

Who, seeking out and humbly acknowledging his

own faults,

Refusing to dwell upon the faults of others,

Will make swift progress toward the goal of peace.

He will cleanse his heart ;

He will purify his understanding ;

Subduing self, he will no longer look through the

eye of self;

Apprehending Truth, he will perceive with the

unveiled eye of Truth ;

He will know both self and Truth.

All his works will prosper, for his acts will be

righteous ;

His tongue will speak wisdom, for his heart will be

pure ;

And where his feet have trodden, the flowers of

Love and Peace will grow.

He will refuse to dwell with unrighteousness.

Folly and impurity he will reject,

And he will say unto strife and hatred, " Depart ye

from me."

Kindling the fire of inward knowledge,

Keeping bright and constant its flame,

And feeding it with patient and loving sacrifice,

Let a man burn up all that is perishable within him,

Only thus will he find the Imperishable ;

Let him eliminate the dross of error,

Only thus will he discover the gold of Truth :

Let him destroy all sin, Only thus will he find the

Stainless One,

Only thus will he approach the Highest.

Thus seeking out the source within himself.

Passion will not long torment him ;

Finding the cause of passion, he will destroy it,

And self - restraint will give way to composure of

mind and heart,

Far will he travel on the Way of Peace,

And, reaching the second Resting - Place,

Will taste of fuller joy and blessedness.

Yet, staying there, he will not reach the Highest.

3. Self - Surrender

Having well restrained himself,

Having deeply examined himself,

Let the lover of Truth now enter upon the practice

of Self - Surrender.

He who practises self - restraint travels well;

He who practises self - examination travels better;

He who practises self - surrender travels best.

He only can know the Highest who surrenders self,

Who makes the inward sacrifice complete,

Who holds nothing back,

Who calls nothing his own,

Who refuses to set his heart upon any earthly thing

;

Putting aside all his lusts,

Emptying himself of all his vanities,

Divesting himself of all his theories and opinions,

He will become empty, naked, and without

possessions ;

And having become empty, he will be filled with

Truth ;

Having become naked, he will be clothed with

Righteousness ;

Possessing nothing, he will be lord of all.

When self surrender is practised in its

completeness.

Then is the Highest reached,

Then is Truth comprehened,

Then is Perfect Peace enjoyed.

He who has conquered himself can never be

brought low,

He who has surrendered himself can never be

confounded;

He who has overcome the world can never be

disturbed,

The flames of lust will not burn him, for he has

quenched them ;

Temptation will no more scourge him, for he has

destroyed the cause of temptation ;

Restraint will no more be needed, for he will be

perfect in Truth,

Freed from self, he will be freed from sorrow;

Freed from error, he will no more grieve ;

Freed from impurity, he will cease from suffering.

He will enter into the highest joy,

And, reaching the final Resting - Place,

Will partake of perfect bliss and blessedness.

Not valuing that which perishes he can never be

robbed;

Not loving himself he can never be wounded ;

And though men should slay him he can never be

destroyed;

For he is no longer self, but Truth,

And who shall destroy Truth ?

All bodies die, but Truth does not die ;

Ail things pass away, but Truth remains for ever.

He who has surrendered self has become, immortal,

He is no longer separate but has become one with

Truth,

And he manifests the Highest, though men perceive

it not.

Of self - restraint is born Virtue,

Of self - examination is born Knowledge,

Of self - surrender is born Love.

Happy shall he become who restrains himself,

Blessed shall he become who purifies himself,

Divine shall he become who surrenders himself.

By Virtue one‘s life is governed,

By Knowledge one‘s life is purified,

By Love one‘s life is perfected.

Virtue is the seed, Knowledge the plant, and Love

the flower.

The seed knoweth not the plant,

The plant knoweth not the flower,

But the flower knoweth itself, plant, and seed.

By self-restraint passion is slain ;

By self - examination false belief is slain;

By self - surrender all illusion is laid low.

Self - restraint leads to strength ;

Self - examination leads to wisdom;

Self-surrender leads to holiness.

Perfect in self-restraint, self-examination and self -

surrender.

A man has reached the Highest;

He has become one with Truth, and will no more

wander.

Unalterable in compassion,

Firmly established in righteousness,

And steadfast in holiness,

His heart thrills in unison with the Heart of all;

He knows the unending joy,

He has found the heavenly peace.

Having stooped to the lowest, he is exalted to the

Highest;

Having conquered sin, he is crowned with Holiness

;

Having crucified self, he is glorified by Truth.

Willing to be nothing, he has become all ;

Yielding up all things, he has become possessed of

all;

Giving his life, he is clothed with Immortality.

Altogether virtuous, he is altogether happy ;

Altogether righteousness, he is altogether blessed ;

Altogether pure, he is altogether peaceful.

Beautiful in Meekness,

Majestic in Love,

And invincible in Innocence,

He will manifest the Ineffable ;

He will teach without words.

No more troubled ;

No more tormented ;

No more afflicted;

Arisen, awakened, healed, and made perfect;

He has unveiled the Face of the Highest ;

He knows the Great Rest,

The Deep Silence,

The Profound Peace.

In the Light which knows no darkness he walks,

And it casts no shadow on his pathway.

Morning and evening thoughts. By James Allen.

First Morning

In aiming at the life of blessedness, one

of the simplest beginnings to be considered,

and rightly made, is that which we all

make every day-namely, the beginning

of each day‘s life.

There is a sense in which every day

may be regarded as the beginning of a new

life, in which one can think, act, and live

newly, and in a wiser and better spirit.

The right beginning of the day will

be followed by a cheerfulness permeating

the household with a sunny influence,

and the tasks and duties of the day will

be undertaken in a strong and confident

spirit, and the whole day will be well lived.

First Evening

There can be no progress, no achievement,

without sacrifice, and a man‘s worldly

success will be in the measure that he

sacrifices his confused animal thoughts,

and fixes his mind on the development

of his plans, and the strengthening of his

resolution and self-reliance.

And the higher he lifts his thoughts,

the more manly, upright, and righteous

he becomes, the greater will be his success,

the more blessed and enduring will be his

achievements.

Second Morning

None but right acts can follow right

thoughts; none but a right life can follow

right acts; and by living a right life all

blessedness is achieved.

Mind is the Master-power that moulds

and makes.

And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes.

The Tool of thought, and, shaping what

he wills,

Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand

ills;-

He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:

Environment is but his looking-glass.

Second Evening

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful

jewels of wisdom. A man becomes calm in

the measure that he understands himself

as a thought-evolved being. . . .

And he as he develops a right

understanding, and sees more and more

clearly the internal relations of things by

the action of cause and effect, he ceases to

fret and fume, and worry and grieve, and

remains poised, steadfast, serene.

Third Morning

To follow, under all circumstances, the

highest promptings within you; to be

always true to the divine self; to rely upon

the inward Voice, the inward Light, and to

pursue your purpose with a fearless and

restful heart, believing that the future will

yield unto you the need of every thought

and effort; knowing that the laws of the

universe can never fail, and that your own

will come back to you with mathematical

exactitude-this is faith and the living of

faith.

Third Evening

Have a thorough understanding of your

work, and let it be your own; and as you

proceed, ever following the inward Guide,

the infallible Voice, you will pass on from

victory to victory, and will rise step by step

to higher resting-places, and your ever-

broadening outlook will gradually reveal

to you the essential beauty and purpose

of life. Self-purified, health will be yours;

self-governed, power will be yours, and all

that you do will prosper.

And I may stand where health, success,

and power

Await my coming, if, each fleeting hour,

I cling to love and patience; and abide

With stainlessness; and never step aside

From high integrity; so shall I see

At last the land of immortality.

Fourth Morning

When the tongue is well controlled and

wisely subdued; when selfish impulses and

unworthy thoughts no longer rush to the

tongue demanding utterance; when the

speech has become harmless, pure,

gracious, gentle, and purposeful, and no

word is uttered but in sincerity and

truth-then are the five steps in virtuous

speech accomplished, then is the second

great lesson in Truth learned and mastered.

Make pure thy heart, and thou wilt make

thy life

Rich, sweet and beautiful.

Fourth Evening

Having clothed himself with humility,

the first questions a man asks himself

are:-

―How am I acting towards others?‖

―What am I doing to others?‖

―How am I thinking of others?‖

―Are my thoughts of, and acts towards

others prompted by unselfish love?‖

As a man, in the silence of his soul,

asks himself these searching questions, he

will unerringly see where he has hitherto

failed.

Fifth Morning

To dwell in love always and towards all

is to live the true life, is to have Life itself.

Knowing this, the good man gives up

himself unreservedly to the Spirit of Love,

and dwells in Love towards all, contending

with none, condemning none, but loving

all.

The Christ Spirit of Love puts an

end, not only to all sin, but to all division

and contention.

Fifth Evening

When sin and self are abandoned, the heart

is restored to its imperishable Joy.

Joy comes and fills the self-emptied

heart; it abides with the peaceful; its reign

is with the pure.

Joy flees from the selfish, it deserts the

quarrelsome; it is hidden from the impure.

Joy cannot remain with the selfish; it is

wedded to Love.

Sixth Morning

In the pure heart there is no room left

where personal judgments and hatreds can

find lodgment, for it is filled to overflowing

with tenderness and love; it sees no evil,

and only as men succeed in seeing no evil

in others will they become free from sin,

and sorrow, and suffering.

If men only understood

That the heart that sins must sorrow,

That the hateful mind tomorrow

Reaps its barren harvest, weeping,

Starving, resting not, nor sleeping;

Tenderness would fill their being,

They would see with Pity‘s seeing

If they only understood.

Sixth Evening

To stand face to face with truth; to arrive,

after innumerable wanderings and pains, at

wisdom and bliss; not to be finally defeated

and cast out, but to ultimately triumph

over every inward foe-such is man‘s divine

destiny, such his glorious goal; and this,

every saint, sage, and savior has declared.

A man only begins to be a man

when he ceases to whine and revile, and

commences to search for the hidden justice

which regulates his life. And as he adapts

his mind to that regulating factor, he

ceases to accuse others as the cause of his

condition, and builds himself up in strong

and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against

circumstances, but begins to use them as

aids to his more rapid progress, and as a

means of discovering the hidden power

and possibilities within himself.

Seventh Morning

The will to evil and the will to good

Are both within thee, which wilt

thou employ?

Thou knowest what is right and what is

wrong,

Which wilt though love and foster?

which destroy?

Thou art the chooser of thy thoughts and

deeds;

Thou art the maker of thine inward state;

The power is thine to be what thou wilt be;

Thou buildest Truth and Love, or lies and

hate.

Seventh Evening

The teaching of Jesus brings men back

to the simple truth that righteousness,

or right-doing, is entirely a matter of

individual conduct, and not a mystical

something apart from a man‘s thoughts

and deeds.

Calmness and patience can become

habitual by first grasping, through effort,

a calm and patient thought, and then

continuously thinking it, and living in it,

until ―use becomes second nature,‖ and

anger and impatience pass away for ever.

Eighth Morning

Man is made or unmade by himself; in the

armoury of thought he forges the weapons

by which he destroys himself; he also

fashions the tools with which he builds

for himself heavenly mansions of joy and

strength and peace. By the right choice

and true application of thought man

ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the

abuse and wrong application of thought

he descends below the level of the beast.

Between these two extremes are all the

grades of character, and man is their

maker and master.

As a being of Power, Intelligence, and

Love, and the lord of his own thoughts,

man holds the key to every situation.

Eighth Evening

Whatsoever you harbour in the inmost

chambers of your heart will, sooner or later,

by the inevitable law of reaction,

shape itself in your outward life.

Every soul attracts its own, and

nothing can possibly come to it that does

not belong to it. To realize this is to

recognize the universality of Divine Law.

If thou would‘st right the world,

And banish all its evils and its woes.

Make its wild places bloom,

And its drear deserts blossom as the rose-

Then right thyself.

Ninth Morning

Whatever conditions are rendering your

life burdensome, you may pass out of and

beyond them by developing and utilizing

within you the transforming power of

self-purification and self-conquest.

Before the divine radiance of a pure

heart all darkness vanishes and all clouds

melt away, and he who has conquered

self has conquered the universe.

He who sets his foot firmly upon

the path of self-conquest, who walks,

aided by the staff of faith, the highway of

self-sacrifice, will assuredly achieve the

highest prosperity, and will reap abounding

and enduring joy and bliss.

Ninth Evening

It is the silent and conquering thought-

forces which bring all things into

manifestation. The universe grew

out of thought.

To adjust all your thoughts to a perfect

and unswerving faith in the omnipotence

and supremacy of Good, is to co-operate

with that Good, and to realize within

yourself the solution and destruction

of all evil.

To mentally deny evil is not sufficient;

it must, by daily practice, be risen above

and understood. To affirm the Good

mentally is inadequate; it must, by

unswerving endeavor, be entered into

and comprehended.

Tenth Morning

Every thought you think is a force sent out.

Whatever your position in life may

be, before you can hope to enter into any

measure of success, usefulness, and power,

you must learn how to focus your thought-

forces by cultivating calmness and repose.

There is no difficulty, however great,

but will yield before a calm and purposeful

concentration of thought, and no

legitimate object but may be speedily

actualized by the intelligent use and

direction of one‘s soul forces.

Think good thoughts, and they will

quickly become actualized in your outward

life in the form of good conditions.

Tenth Evening

That which you would be and hope to be,

you may be now. Non-accomplishment

resides in your perpetual postponement,

and, having the power to postpone, you

also have the power to accomplish-to

perpetually accomplish: realize this truth,

and you shall be to-day, and every day,

the ideal being of whom you dreamed.

Say to yourself, ―I will live in my Ideal

now; I will manifest my ideal now; I will

be my Ideal now; and all that tempts me

away from my Ideal I will not listen to;

I will listen only to the voice of my Ideal.‖

Eleventh Morning

Be as a flower; content to be, to grow

in sweetness day by day.

If thou would‘st perfect thyself in

knowledge, perfect thyself in Love.

If thou would‘st reach the Highest,

ceaselessly cultivate a loving and

compassionate heart.

To him who chooses Goodness,

sacrificing all, is given that which

is more than, and includes, all.

Eleventh Evening

The Great Law never cheats any man of

his just due.

Human life, when rightly lived,

is simple with a beautiful simplicity.

He who comprehends the utter

simplicity of life, who obeys its laws,

and does not step aside into the dark

paths and complex mazes of selfish desire,

stands where no harm can reach him.

Then there is fullness of joy,

abounding plenty, and rich and

complete blessedness.

Twelfth Morning

Every man reaps the results of his own

thoughts and deeds, and suffers for his

own wrong.

He who begins right, and continues

right, does not need to desire, and search

for felicitous results; they are already at

hand; they follow as consequences; they

are the certainties, the realities, of life.

Sweet is the rest and deep is the bliss

of him who has freed his heart from its

lusts and hatreds and dark desires.

Twelfth Evening

You are the creator of your own shadows;

you desire, and then you grieve; renounce,

and then you shall rejoice.

Of all the beautiful truths pertaining

to the soul, . . . none is more gladdening

or fruitful of divine promise and confidence

than this-that man is the master of

thought, the moulder of character, and

the maker and shaper of character,

environment, and destiny.

Thirteenth Morning

As darkness is a passing shadow, and light

is a substance that remains, so sorrow is

fleeting, but joy abides for ever. No true

thing can pass away and become lost; no

false thing can remain and be preserved.

Sorrow is false, and it cannot live; joy is

true, and it cannot die. Joy may become

hidden for a time, but it can always be

recovered; sorrow may remain for a period,

but it can be transcended and dispersed.

Do not think your sorrow will remain;

it will pass away like a cloud. Do not

believe that the torments of sin are ever

your portion; they will vanish like a

hideous nightmare. Awake! Arise! Be holy

and joyful.

Thirteenth Evening

Tribulation lasts only so long as there

remains some chaff of self which needs to

be removed. The tribulum, or threshing

machine, ceases to work when all the

grain is separated from the chaff;

and when the last impurities are

blown away from the soul,

tribulation has completed its work,

and there is no more need for it;

then abiding joy is realized.

The sole and supreme use of suffering

is to purify, to burn out all that is useless

and impure. Suffering ceases for him

who is pure. There could be no object

in burning gold after the dross had

been removed.

Fourteenth Morning

In speaking of self-control, one is easily

misunderstood. It should not be associated

with a destructive repression, but with a

constructive expression.

A man is happy, wise and great in the

measure that he controls himself; he is

wretched, foolish, and mean in the

measure that he allows his animal nature

to dominate his thoughts and actions.

he who controls himself, controls his

life, his circumstances, his destiny; and

wherever he goes he carries his happiness

with him as an abiding possession.

Renunciation precedes regeneration.

The permanent happiness which men

seek in dissipation, excitement, and

abandonment to unworthy pleasures,

is found only in the life which reverses

all this-the life of self-control.

Fourteenth Evening

Law, not confusion, is the dominating

principle in the universe; justice, not

injustice is the soul and substance of life;

and righteousness, not corruption, is the

moulding and moving force in the spiritual

government of the world. This being so,

man has but the right himself to find that

the universe is right.

When I am pure,

I shall have solved the mystery of life;

I shall be sure,

When I am free from hatred, lust and

strife,

I am in Truth, and Truth abides in me;

I shall be safe, and sane, and wholly free,

When I am pure.

Fifteenth Morning

If men only understood

That their hatred and resentment

Slays their peace and sweet contentment,

Hurts themselves, helps not another,

Does not cheer one lonely brother,

They would seek the better doing

Of good deeds which leaves no rueing-

If they only understood.

If men only understood

How Love conquers; how prevailing

Is its might, grim hate assailing;

How compassion endeth sorrow,

Maketh wise, and doth not borrow

Pain of passion, they would ever

Live in Love, in hatred never-

If they only understood.

Fifteenth Evening

The grace and beauty that were in Jesus

can be of no value to you-cannot be

understood by you-unless they are also

in you, and they can never be in you, until

you practise them, for, apart from doing,

the qualities which constitute Goodness

do not, as far as you are concerned, exist.

To adore Jesus for his good qualities is a

long step towards Truth, but to practise

those qualities is Truth itself; and he who

fully adores the perfection of another will

not rest content in his own imperfection,

but will fashion his soul after the likeness

of that other.

Therefore thou who adorest Jesus for

his divine qualities, practise those qualities

Thyself, and thou too shalt be divine.

Sixteenth Morning

Let a man realize that life in its totality

proceeds from the mind, and lo, the way

of blessedness is opened up to him! For

he will then discover that he possesses the

power to rule his mind and to fashion it

in accordance with his Ideal.

So will he elect to strongly and stead-

fastly walk those pathways of thought and

action which are altogether excellent; to

him life will become beautiful and sacred;

and, sooner or later, he will put to flight

all evil, confusion, and suffering; for it

is impossible for a man to fall short of

liberation, enlightenment, and peace,

who guards with unwearying diligence

the gateway of his heart.

Sixteenth Evening

By constantly overcoming self, a man gains

a knowledge of the subtle intricacies of

his mind; and it is this divine knowledge

which enables him to become established

in calmness.

Without self-knowledge there can be no

abiding peace of mind, and those who are

carried away by tempestuous passions,

cannot approach the holy place where

calmness reigns.

The weak man is like one who, having

mounted a fiery steed, allows it to run

away with him, and carry him withersoever

it wills; the strong man is like one who,

having mounted the steed, governs it

with a masterly hand and makes it go in

whatever direction and at whatever speed

he commands.

Seventeenth Morning

There is no strife, no selfishness, in the

Kingdom; there is perfect harmony,

equipoise, and rest.

Those who live in the Kingdom of

Love, have all their needs supplied by

the Law of Love.

As self is the root cause of all strife

And suffering, so Love is the root cause

of all peace and bliss.

Those who are at rest in the Kingdom,

do not look for happiness in any outward

possessions. They are freed from all anxiety

and trouble and, resting in Love, they are

the embodiment of happiness.

Seventeenth Evening

Let it not be supposed that the children of

The Kingdom live in ease and indolence

(these two sins are the first that have

to be eradicated when the search for the

Kingdom is entered upon); they live in a

peaceful activity; in fact, they only truly

live, for the life of self, with its train of

worries, griefs, and fears, is not real life.

The children of the Kingdom are

Known by their life, they manifest the fruits

of the Spirit-―Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

meekness, temperance, self-control‖-

under all circumstances and vicissitudes.

Eighteenth Morning

The gospel of Jesus is a gospel of living and

doing. If it were not this it would not voice

the Eternal Truth. Its Temple is Purified

Conduct, the entrance-door to which is

Self-surrender. It invites men to shake off

sin, and promises, as a result, joy and

blessedness and perfect peace.

The Kingdom of Heaven is perfect

trust, perfect knowledge, perfect peace. . . .

No sin can enter therein, no self-born

Thought or deed can pass its golden gates;

no impure desire can defile its radiant

robes. . . . All may enter it who will, but

all must pay the price-the unconditional

abandonment of self.

Eighteenth Evening

I say this-and know it to be truth-that

circumstances can only affect you in so far

as you allow them to do so. You are swayed

by circumstances because you have not a

right understanding of the nature, use, and

power of thought. You believe (and upon

this little word belief hang all our joys and

sorrows) that outward things have the

power to make or mar your life; by so

doing you submit to those outward things,

confess that you are their slave, and they

your unconditional master. By so doing

you invest them with a power which they

do not of themselves possess, and you

succumb, in reality not to the circumstances,

but to the gloom or gladness, the

fear or hope, the strength of weakness,

which your thought-sphere has thrown

around them.

Nineteenth Morning

If you are one of those who are praying for,

and looking forward to a happier world

beyond the grave, here is a message of

gladness for you-you may enter into and

realize that happy world now; it fills the

whole universe, and it is within you,

waiting for you to find, acknowledge,

and possess.

Said one who understood the inner

laws of Being-―When men shall say,

lo here, or lo there, go not after them.

The Kingdom of God is within you.‖

Nineteenth Evening

Heaven and hell are inward states.

Sink into self and all its gratifications,

and you sink into hell; rise above self

into that state of consciousness which is

the utter denial and forgetfulness of self,

and you enter heaven.

So long as you persist in selfishly

seeking for your own personal happiness,

so long will happiness elude you, and you

will be sowing the seeds of wretchedness.

in so far as you succeed in losing yourself

in the service of others, in that measure

will happiness come to you, and you will

reap a harvest of bliss.

Twentieth Morning

Sympathy given can never be waste.

One aspect of sympathy is that of

Pity-pity for the distressed or pain-

stricken, with a desire to alleviate

or help them in their sufferings.

The world needs more of this

divine quality.

―For pity makes the world

Soft to the weak, and noble

for the strong.

Another form of sympathy is that

of rejoicing with others who are more

successful than ourselves, and though

their success were our own.

Twentieth Evening

Sweet are companionships, pleasures, and

material comforts, but they change and

fade away. Sweeter still are Purity, Wisdom,

and the knowledge of Truth, and these

never change nor fade away.

He who attained to the possession of

spiritual things can never be deprived of

his source of happiness; he will never have

to part company with it, and wherever he

goes in the whole universe, he will carry

his possessions with him. His spiritual

end will be the fulness of joy.

Twenty-First Morning

Let your heart grow and expand with ever-

broadening love, until, freed from all

hatred, and passion, and condemnation,

it embraces the whole universe with

thoughtful tenderness.

As the flower opens its petals to receive

the morning light, so open your soul more

and more to the glorious light of Truth.

Soar upward on the wings of aspiration;

be fearless and believe in the loftiest

possibilities.

Twenty-First Evening

Mind clothes itself in garments of its own

making.

Mind is the arbiter of life; it is the

creator and shaper of conditions, and the

recipient of its own results. It contains

within itself both the power to create

illusion and to perceive reality.

Mind is the infallible weaver of destiny;

thought is the thread, good and evil deeds

are the warp and woof, and the web,

woven upon the loom of life, is character.

Make pure thy heart, and thou wilt make

thy life

Rich, sweet, and beautiful, unmarred by

strife.

Twenty-Second Morning

Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals;

cherish the music that stirs in your heart,

the beauty that forms in your mind, the

Loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts,

for out of them will grow all delightful

conditions, all heavenly environment;

of these, if you will remain true to them,

your world will at last be built.

Guard well thy mind, and, noble, strong,

and free,

Nothing shall harm, disturb or conquer

thee;

For all thy foes are in thy heart and mind,

There also thy salvation thou shalt find.

Twenty-Second Evening

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream

so shall you become. Your vision is the

promise of what you shall one day be;

your Ideal is the prophecy of what you

shall at last unveil.

The greatest achievement was at first

and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps

in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg;

and in the highest vision of the soul

a waking angel stirs.

Your circumstances may be uncongenial,

but they shall not long remain so when

you perceive an Ideal and strive to reach it.

Twenty-Third Morning

He who has conquered doubt and fear has

conquered failure. His every thought is

allied with power, and all difficulties are

bravely met and wisely overcome. His

purposes are seasonably planted, and they

bloom and bring forth fruit which does

not fall prematurely to the ground.

Thought allied fearlessly to purpose

becomes creative force: he who knows this

is ready to become something higher and

stronger than a mere bundle of wavering

thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he

who does this has become the conscious

and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.

Twenty-Third Evening

Man‘s true place in the Cosmos is that of

a king, not a slave, a commander under

the Law of Good, and not a helpless tool

in the region of evil.

I write for men, not for babes; for

those who are eager to learn, and earnest

to achieve; for those who will put away

(for the world‘s good) a petty personal

indulgence, a selfish desire, a mean

thought, and live on as though it were

not, sans craving and regret.

Man is a master. If he were not, he

could not act contrary to law.

Evil and weakness are self destructive.

The universe is girt with goodness

and strength, and it protects the good

and the strong.

The angry man is the weak man.

Twenty-Fourth Morning

Not by learning will a man triumph over

evil; not by much study will he overcome

sin and sorrow. Only by conquering

himself will he conquer evil; only by

practising righteousness will he put an

end to sorrow.

Not for the clever, nor the learned, nor

the self-confident is the Life Triumphant,

but for the pure, the virtuous and wise.

The former achieve their particular success

in life, but the latter alone achieve the

great success so invincible and complete

that even in apparent defeat it shines with

added victory.

Twenty-Fourth Evening

The true silence is not merely a silent

tongue; it is a silent mind. To merely hold

one‘s tongue, and yet to carry about a

disturbed and rankling mind, is no remedy

for weakness, and no source of power.

Silentness, to be powerful, must

envelop the whole mind, must permeate

every chamber of the heart; it must be

the silence of peace.

To this broad, deep, abiding silentness

a man attains only in the measure that

he conquers himself.

Twenty-Fifth Morning

By curbing his tongue, a man gains

possession of his mind.

The fool babbles, gossips, argues,

and bandies words. He glories in the fact

that he has had the last word, and has

silenced his opponent. He exults in his

own folly, is ever on the defensive, and

wastes his energies in unprofitable channels.

He is like a gardener who continues to dig

and plant in unproductive soil.

The wise man avoids idle words, gossips,

vain argument, and self-defence. He is

content to appear defeated; rejoices when

he is defeated; knowing that, having found

and removed another error in himself, he

has thereby become wiser.

Blessed is he who does not strive for

the last word.

Twenty-Fifth Evening

Desire is the craving for possession; aspiration

is the hunger of the heart for peace.

The craving for things leads ever

farther and farther from peace, and not

only ends in deprivation, but is in itself

A state of perpetual want. Until it comes

to an end, rest and satisfaction are

impossible.

The hunger for things can never be

satisfied, but the hunger for peace can,

and the satisfaction of peace is found-

is fully possessed, when all selfish desire is

abandoned. Then there is fullness of joy,

abounding plenty, and rich and complete

blessedness.

Twenty-Sixth Morning

A man will reach the Kingdom by purifying

himself, and he can only do this by

pursuing a process of self-examination

and self-analysis.

The selfishness must be discovered and

understood before it can be removed. It is

powerless to remove itself, neither will it pass

away of itself. Darkness ceases only when

light is introduced; so ignorance can only be

dispersed by knowledge, selfishness by love.

A man must first of all be willing to

lose himself (his self-seeking) before he

can find himself (his Divine Self). He

must realize that selfishness is not worth

clinging to, that it is a master altogether

unworthy of his service, and that divine

goodness alone is worthy to be enthroned

in his heart, as the supreme master of

his life.

Twenty-Sixth Evening

Be still, my soul, and know that peace

is thine.

Be steadfast, heart, and know that

strength divine

Belongs to thee; cease from thy turmoil,

mind,

And thou the Everlasting Rest shalt find.

If a man would have peace, let him

exercise the spirit of peace; if he would

find Love, let him dwell in the spirit of

Love; if he would escape suffering, let him

cease to inflict it; if he would do noble

things for humanity, let him cease to do

ignoble things for himself. If he will but

quarry the mine of his own soul, he shall

find there all the materials for building

whatsoever he will, and he shall find there

also the Central Rock on which to build

in safety.

Twenty-Seventh Morning

Men go after much company, and seek out

new excitements, but they are not

acquainted with peace; in divers paths of

pleasure they search for happiness, but

they do not come to rest; through divers

ways of laughter and feverish delirium they

wander after gladness and life, but their

tears are many and grievous, and they

do not escape death.

Drifting upon the ocean of life in

search of selfish indulgences, men are

caught in its storms, and only after many

tempests and much privation do they fly

to the Rock of Refuge which rests in the

deep silence of their own being.

Twenty-Seventh Evening

Meditation centered upon divine realities

is the very essence and soul of prayer.

It is the silent reaching upward of the

soul toward the Eternal.

Meditation is the intense dwelling,

in thought, upon an idea or theme with

the object of thoroughly comprehending

it; and whatsoever you constantly meditate

upon, you will not only come to understand,

but will grow more and more into its

likeness, for it will become incorporated

with your very being, will become, in fact,

your very self.

If, therefore, you constantly dwell upon

that which is selfish and debasing, you will

ultimately become selfish and debased;

if you ceaselessly think upon that which

is pure and unselfish, you will surely

become pure and unselfish.

Twenty-Eighth Morning

There is no difficulty, however great, but

will yield before a calm and powerful

concentration of thought, and no

legitimate object but may be speedily

actualized by the intelligent use and

direction of one‘s soul forces.

Whatever your task may be,

concentrate your whole mind upon it;

throw into it all the energy of which you

are capable. The faultless completion of

small tasks, leads inevitably to larger tasks.

See to it that you rise by steady

climbing, and you will never fall.

Twenty-Eighth Evening

He who knows that Love is at the heart of

all things, and has realized the all-sufficing

power of that Love, has no room in his

heart for condemnation.

If you love people and speak of them

with praise, until they in some way

thwart you, or do something of which

you disapprove, and then you dislike them

and speak of them with dispraise, you are

not governed by the Love which is of God.

If, in your heart, you are continually

arraigning and condemning others,

selfless love is hidden from you.

Train your mind in strong, impartial,

and gentle thought; train your heart in

purity and compassion; train your tongue

to silence, and to true and stainless speech;

so shall you enter the way of holiness and

peace, and shall ultimately realize the

immortal Love.

Twenty-Ninth Morning

If you would realize true prosperity,

do not settle down, as many have done,

into the belief that if you do right

everything will go wrong. Do not allow

the word ―Competition‖ to shake your

faith in the supremacy of righteousness.

I care not what men say about the ―laws

of competition,‖ for do not I know the

Unchangeable Law which shall one day

put them all to rout, and which puts them

to rout even now in the heart and life of

the righteous man? And knowing this

law I can contemplate all dishonesty

with undisturbed repose, for I know

where certain destruction awaits it.

Under all circumstances do that which

you believe to be right, and trust the Law;

trust the Divine Power which is immanent

in the universe, and it will never desert

you, and you will always be protected.

Twenty-Ninth Evening

Forget yourself entirely in the sorrows of

others, and in ministering to others, and

divine happiness will emancipate you from

all sorrow and suffering. ―Taking the first

step with a good thought, the second with

a good word, and the third with a good

deed, I entered Paradise.‖ And you also

enter Paradise by pursuing the same course.

Lose yourself in the welfare of others;

forget yourself in all that you do-this

is the secret of abounding happiness.

Ever be on the watch to guard against

selfishness and learn faithfully the divine

lessons of inward sacrifice; so shall you

climb the highest heights of happiness,

and shall remain in the never-clouded

sunshine of universal joy, clothed in the

shining garment of immortality.

Thirtieth Morning

When the farmer has tilled and dressed

his land and put in the seed, he knows

that he has done all that he can possibly

do, and that now he must trust to the

elements, and wait patiently for the

course of time to bring about the harvest,

and that no amount of expectancy

on his part will affect the result.

Even so, he who has realized Truth,

goes forth as a sower of the seeds of

goodness, purity, love, and peace, without

expectancy and never looking for results,

knowing that there is the Great Over-

ruling Law which brings about its own

harvest in due time, and which is alike the

source of preservation and destruction.

Thirtieth Evening

The virtuous put a check upon themselves,

and set a watch upon their passions and

emotions; in this way they gain possession

of the mind, and gradually acquire calmness;

and as they acquire influence, power,

greatness, abiding joy, and fullness and

completeness of life.

He only finds peace who conquers

himself, who strives, day by day, after

greater self-possession, greater self-control,

greater calmness of mind.

Where the calm mind is there is

strength and rest, there is love and

wisdom; there is one who has fought

successfully innumerable battles against

self, who, after long toil in secret against

his own failings, has triumphed at last.

Thirty-First Morning

Sympathy bestowed increases its store in

our own heart and enriches and fructifies

our own life. Sympathy given is blessedness

received; sympathy withheld is blessedness

forfeited.

In the measure that a man increases

and enlarges his sympathy so much

nearer does he approach the ideal life,

the perfect blessedness; and when his

heart has become so mellowed that no

hard, bitter, or cruel thought can enter,

and detract from its permanent sweetness,

then indeed is he richly and divinely

blessed.

Thirty-First Evening

Sweet is the rest and deep the bliss of him

who has freed his heart from its lusts and

hatreds and dark desires; and he who,

without any shadow of bitterness resting

upon him, and looking out upon the world

with boundless compassion and love, can

breathe, in his inmost heart, the blessing:

Peace unto all living things,

making no exceptions or distinctions-

such a man has reached that happy ending

which can never be taken away, for this is

the perfection of life, the fulness of peace,

the consummation of perfect blessedness.

James Allen’s book of meditations for Every Day in the Year. By

James Allen.

Content

• Editor‘s preface

• January 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

• February 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

• March 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

• April 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

• May 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

• June 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

• July 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

• August 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

• September 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

• Oktober 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

• November 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

• December 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

By Thought we rise ; by Thought we fall, by Thought

We stand or go ; all destiny is wrought

By its swift potency , and he who stands

Master of Thought, and his desires commands,

Willing and weaving thoughts of Love and Alight,

Shapes his high end in ‘Truth‘s unerring Light.

He who does not find The way of Meditation cannot reach

Emancipation and enlightenment.

But thou wilt find the way of Holy Thought;

With mind made calm and steadfast, thou will see

The Permanent amid the mutable,

The Truth eternal in the things that change :

Thou wilt behold the Perfect Law : Cosmos

From Chaos rises when the conquered self

Lies underneath man‘s heel : Love be thy strength ;

Look on the passion-tortured multitudes,

And have compassion on them ; know their pain

By thy long sorrow ended. Thou wilt come

To perfect peace, and so wilt bless the world,

Leading unto the High and Holy Way

The feet of them that seek.—And now I go

To my Abode ; go thou unto thy work.

Editor’s preface

James Allen may truly be called the Prophet of Meditation. In an age of strife, hurry, religious

controversy, heated arguments, ritual and ceremony, he came with his message of Meditation, calling

men away from the din and strife of tongues into the peaceful paths of stillness within their own souls,

where the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world ever burns steadily and surely for all

who will turn their weary eyes from the strife without to the quiet within. Many of the Meditations were

written as he came down from the Cairn in the early morning, where he spent those precious hours

alone with God while the world slept. Others are gleaned from his many writings, published and

unpublished, and are arranged for daily readings at his request, and, we believe, under his spiritual

guidance. The book must ever be a stronghold of Spiritual Truth and blessing to all who read it, and

especially to those who use it for daily meditation. Its great power lies in that it is the very heart of a

good man who lived every word he wrote. The beautiful half-tone portrait is a speaking likeness of the

Author. It was taken only six weeks before his translation, and has not been published before.

We are indebted to Messrs. Putnam‘s Sons (London and New York), and to Messrs. Wm. Rider and

Son, Limited (London), for their cordial expressions of pleasure that some of the Meditations should be

culled from the books published by them, viz., The Mastery of Destiny, and Above Life’s Turmoil

(Putnam), and From Passion to Peace, and Man : King of Mind, Body, and Circumstance (Rider).

LILY L. ALLEN.

"BRYNGOLEU,"

ILFRACOMBE, ENGLAND.

The way front passion to peace is by overcoming one’s self.

January First.

FREQUENTLY the man of passion is most eager to put others right ; but the man of wisdom puts

himself right. If one is anxious to reform the world, let him begin by reforming himself. The

reformation of self does not end with the elimination of the sensual elements only ; that is its

beginning. It ends only when every vain thought and selfish aim is overcome. Short of perfect purity

and wisdom, there is still some form of self-slavery or folly which needs to be conquered.

On the wings of aspiration man rises from earth to heaven, from ignorance to knowledge, from the

under darkness to the upper light. Without it he remains a grovelling animal, earthly, sensual,

unenlightened, and uninspired.

Aspiration is the longing for heavenly things.

Where is peace to be found! Where is the hiding-place of truth!

January Second.

LET first things be put first ; work before play ; duty before enjoyment; and others before self : this is

an excellent rule which cannot lead astray. To make a right beginning is half-way to victory. The athlete

who makes a bad start may lose his prize ; the merchant who makes a false start may lose his reputation

; and the Truth-seeker who makes a wrong start may forego the crown of Righteousness. To begin with

pure thoughts, sterling rectitude, unselfish purpose, noble aims, and an incorruptible conscience—this

is to start right * this it is to put first things first, so that all other things will follow in harmonious

order, making life simple, beautiful, successful, and peaceful.

The soul will cry out for its lost heritage.

If one would find peace, he must come out of passion.

January Third.

SO long as animal conditions taste sweet to a man, he cannot aspire : he is so far satisfied ; but when

their sweetness turns to bitterness, then in his sorrow he thinks of nobler things. When he is deprived of

earthly joy, he aspires to the joy which is heavenly. It is when impurity turns to suffering that purity is

sought. Truly aspiration rises, phoenix-like, from the dead ashes of repentance, but on its powerful

pinions man can reach the heaven of heavens.

The man of aspiration has entered the way which leads to peace ; and surely he will reach that end if he

stays not nor turns back. If he constantly renews his mind with glimpses of the heavenly vision, he will

reach the heavenly state.

That which can be conceived can be achieved.

Our life is what we make it by our own thoughts and deeds.

January Fourth.

MAN attains in the measure that he aspires. His longing to be is the gauge of what he can be. To fix the

mind is to fore-ordain the achievement. As man can experience and know all low things, so he can

experience and know all high things. As he has become human, so he can become divine. The turning

of the mind in high and divine directions is the sole and needful task.

What is impurity but the impure thoughts of the thinker? What is purity but the pure thoughts of the

thinker? One man does not do the thinking of another. Each man is pure or impure of himself alone.

The man of aspiration sees before him the pathway up the heavenly heights, and his heart already

experiences a foretaste of the final peace.

There is a life of victory over sin, and triumph over evil.

When a man wishes and wills he can find the good and the true.

January Fifth.

THE Gates of Heaven are for ever open, and no one is prevented from entering by any will or power

but his own ; but no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven so long as he is enamoured of, and chooses,

the seductions of hell, so long as he resigns himself to sin and sorrow.

There is a larger, higher, nobler, diviner life than that of sinning and suffering, which is so common—in

which, indeed, nearly all are immersed—a life of victory over sin, and triumph over evil; a life wise

and happy, benign and tranquil, virtuous and peaceful. This life can be found and lived now, and he

who lives it is steadfast in the midst of change ; restful among the restless; peaceful, though surrounded

by strife.

Every moment is the time of choice ; every hour is destiny.

The lover of the pure life renews his mind daily.

January Sixth.

As the energetic man of business is not daunted by difficulties, but studies how to overcome them, so

the man of ceaseless aspiration is not crushed into submission by temptations, but meditates how he

may fortify his mind ; for the tempter is like a coward, he only creeps in at weak and unguarded points.

The tempted one should study thoughtfully the nature and meaning of temptation, for until it is known

it cannot be overcome. He who is to overcome temptation must understand how it arises in his own

darkness and error, and must study, by introspection and meditation, how to disperse the darkness and

supplant error by truth.

A man must know himself if he is to know truth. Self-knowledge is the handmaid of self-conquest.

Engage daily in holy meditation on Truth and its attainment.

As errors and impunities are revealed, purge them way.

January Seventh.

EVERY step upward means the leaving of something behind and below. The high is reached only at the

sacrifice of the low. The good is secured only by abandoning the evil. Knowledge is acquired only by

the destruction of ignorance. livery acquisition has its price, which must be paid "to the uttermost

farthing." Every animal, every creeping thing, possesses some gift, so power, which man, in his upward

march, has laid down, which he has exchanged for some higher gift, or power. What great good men

forfeit by clinging to old selfish habits ! Behind every humble sacrifice a winged angel waits to bear us

up the heights of knowledge and wisdom.

Let him who has attained guard against falling back. Let him be careful in little things, and be well

fortified against the entrance of sin.

Aim, with ardour, for the attainment of a perfect life.

The strife of the world in all its forms has its origin in one common cause, namely, individual

selfishness.

January Eighth.

ALL the varied activities of human life are rooted in, and draw their vitality from, one common

source—the human heart. The cause of all suffering and all happiness resides, not in the outer activities

of human life, but in the inner activities of the heart and mind ; and every external agency is sustained

by the life which it derives from human conduct.

The man who cannot endure to have his errors and shortcomings brought to the surface and made

known, but tries to hide them, is unfit to walk the highway of Truth. He is not properly equipped to

battle with and overcome temptation. He who cannot fearlessly face his lower nature cannot climb the

rugged heights of renunciation.

Each man comes under the laws of his own being, never under the laws of another.

When the soul is most tried, its need is greatest.

January Ninth.

DO not despair because of failure. From your particular failure there is a special greatness, a peculiar

wisdom, to be gained ; and no teacher can lead you to that greatness, that wisdom, more surely and

swiftly than your experience of failure. In every mistake you make, in every fall you encounter, there is

a lesson of vital import if you will but search it out; and he who will stoop to discover the good in that

which appears to be disastrous will rise superior to every event, and will utilise his failures as winged

steeds to bear him to a final and supreme success.

Foolish men blame others for their lapses and sins, but let the truth-lover blame only himself. Let him

acknowledge his complete responsibility for his own conduct.

Where temptation is powerful, the greater and more enduring will be the victory.

The great need of the soul is the need of that permanent

January Tenth.

THE old must pass away before the new can appear. The old cottage must be demolished before the

new mansion can appear upon its site. The old error must be destroyed before the new truth can come. .

. . The old self must be renounced before the new man can be born. When the old self of temper,

impatience, envy, pride, and impurity has perished, then in its place will appear the new man of

gentleness, patience, goodwill, humility, and purity. Let the old life of sin and sorrow pass ; let the new

life of Righteousness and Joy come in. ... Then all that was old and ugly will be made new and

beautiful.

It is in the realisation of this Principle where the Kingdom of Heaven, the abiding home of the soul,

resides, and which is the source and storehouse of every permanent blessing.

A life of virtue is noble and excellent.

It matters little what is without, for it is all a reflection of your own consciousness.

January Eleventh.

THE deplorable failure of many outward and isolated reforms is traceable to the fact that their devotees

pursue them as an end in themselves, failing to see that they are merely steps towards ultimate,

individual perfection.

All true reform must come from within, in a changed heart and mind. The giving up of certain foods and

drinks, and the breaking away from certain outward habits, are good and necessary beginnings; but

they are only beginnings, and to end there is to fall far short of a true spiritual life. It is good, therefore,

to cleanse the heart, to correct the mind, and to develop the understanding, for we know that the one

thing needed is a regenerate heart.

It matters everything what you are within, for everything without will be mirrored and coloured

accordingly.

Renew your resolution daily, and in the hour of temptation do not depart from the right path.

January Twelfth.

THE days are lengthening. Each day now the sun rises a little higher, and the light lingers a little

longer. So each day we can strengthen our character; each day we can open our heart a little more to the

light of Truth, and allow the Sun of Righteousness to shine more highly in our mind. The sun does not

increase in volume or intensity, but the earth turns towards it, and receives more as it turns. All that

there is of Truth and Good is now. It does not increase or diminish, but as we turn towards it we receive

of its radiance and beneficence in ever-increasing abundance and power.

As the artisan acquires skill in fashioning the articles of his craft by daily and diligent practice with his

tools, so do you acquire skill in fashioning good deeds by daily and diligent practice of the Truth.

You can acquire Truth only by practice.

The wise purify their thoughts.

January Thirteenth.

EVERYday is a new birth in time, holding out new beginnings, new possibilities, new achievements.

The ages have witnessed the stars in their orbits, but this day hath no age witnessed. It is a new

appearance, a new reality. It heralds a new life—yea, a new order, a new society, a new age. It holds out

new hopes, new opportunities, to all men. In it you can become a new man, a new woman. For you it

can be the day of regeneration, renewal, rebirth. From the old past with its mistakes, failures, and

sorrows, you can rise a new being, endued with power and purpose, and radiant with the inspiration of

a new ideal.

Be chaste in mind and body. Abandon sensual pleasures. Purge the mind of selfishness, and live a life

of exalted purity.

Be upright, gentle, and pure-hearted.

Exert yourself ceaselessly in decreasing evil and accumulating good.

January Fourteenth.

VICTORY of all kinds is preceded by a season of preparation. It can no more appear spontaneously and

erratically than can a flower or a mountain. Like them, it is the culminating point in a process of

growth, in a series of causes and effects. No mere wishing, no magic word, will produce worldly

success ; it must be achieved by an orderly succession of well-directed efforts. No spiritual victory will

be achieved by him who imagines that it does not begin until the hour of temptation arrives. All

spiritual triumphs are gained in the silent hour of meditation, and through a series of successes in lesser

trials. The time of great temptation is the climax of a conquest that long preparation has made certain

and complete.

Fix your minds on the practice of virtue, and the comprehension and application of fixed and noble

principles.

The Never-Ending Gladness awaits your Home- coming.

January Fifteenth.

AS the falling rain prepares the earth for the future crops of grain and fruit, so the rains of many

sorrows showering upon the heart prepare and mellow it for the coming of that wisdom that perfects

the mind and gladdens the heart. As the clouds darken the earth but to cool and fructify it, so the clouds

of grief cast a shadow over the heart to prepare it for nobler things. The hour of sorrow is the hour of

reverence. It puts an end to the shallow sneer, the ribald jest, the cruel calumny; it softens the heart

with sympathy, and enriches the mind with thoughtfulness. Wisdom is mainly recollection of all that

was learned by sorrow.

Do not think that your sorrow will remain ; it will pass away like a cloud.

Where self ends, grief passes away.

Live sweetly and happily, as becomes the dignity of a true manhood and womanhood.

January Sixteenth.

THERE is no greater happiness than to be occupied with good, whether it be good thoughts, good

actions, or good employment; for every good thing is fraught with bliss, and evil cannot enter the heart

or house that is tenanted by all that is good. The mind whose doors are guarded by good shuts out

unhappiness as the well-sentried garrison shuts out the foe. Unhappiness can only enter through

unguarded doors, and even then its power over the tenant is not complete unless it find him occupied

with evil. Not to entertain evil thoughts ; not to do bad actions ; not to engage in worthless or

questionable employment, but to resort to good in all things—this is the source of supreme happiness.

Pure happiness is the rightful and happy condition of the soul.

All things are orderly and sequential being governed by the law of causation.

January Seventeenth.

DO not trouble about results, or be anxious as to the future; but be troubled about personal

shortcomings, and be anxious to remove them ; for know this simple truth—wrong does not result from

right, and a good present cannot give birth to a bad future. You are the custodian of your deeds, but not

of the results which flow from them. The deeds of to-day bring the happiness or sorrow of to-morrow.

Be therefore concerned about what you think and do, rather than about what may or may not come to

you; for he whose deeds are good does not concern himself about results, and is freed from fear of

future ill.

Verily the Law reigneth, and reigneth for ever, and Justice and Love are its eternal ministers.

Speak only words which are truthful and sincere.

January Eighteenth.

THE storm may rage without, but it cannot affect us if there is peace within. As by the fireside there is

security from the fiercest storm, so the heart that is steadfast in the knowledge of Truth abides in peace,

though all around be strife and perturbation. The bitter opposition of men and the unrest of the world

cannot make us bitter and restless unless we enter into and co-operate with it. Rather, if we have peace

in our heart, will the outer turmoil cause our peace to deepen, to take firmer root, and to show forth

more abundantly in works of peace for the softening of human hearts and the enlightening of human

minds.

Blessed is he who has no wrongs to remember, no injuries to forget, in whose pure heart no hateful

thought about another can take root and flourish.

He who speaks evil of another cannot find the way of peace.

Purification is necessarily severe. All becoming is painful.

January Nineteenth.

WHEN a storm has subsided, and all is calm again, observe how all nature seems to pause in a

restorative silence. A restful quiet pervades all things, so that even inanimate objects seem to participate

in the recuperative repose. So when a too violent eagerness or a sudden burst of passion has spent itself,

there comes a period of reflective thought, a time of calm, in which the mind is restored, and things are

seen in their true outlines and right proportions. It is wise to take advantage of this quiet time by

gaining a truer knowledge of one‘s self, and forming a more kindly judgment of others. The hour of

calm is the hour of restoration.

Joy comes and fills the self-emptied heart; it abides with the peaceful ; its reign is with the pure.

Make your every thought, word, and deed sweet and pure.

In the dark times of sorrow, men approach very near to Truth.

January Twentieth.

WHEN the tears flow, and the heart aches, remember then the sorrow of the world. When sorrow has

overtaken you, remember then that it overtakes all ; that none escape it ; that it is the great fact in

human life that makes religion a necessity. Think not that your pain is isolated and unjustly inflicted. It

is but a fragment of the great pain of the world. It is the common experience of all. Perceiving this, let

sorrow gently lead you into a deeper religion, a wider compassion, a tenderer regard for all men and all

creatures. Let it bring you into greater love and deeper peace.

Bear well in mind that nothing can overtake you that does not belong to you, and that is not for your

eternal good.

The end of sorrow is joy and peace.

The sorrowless state is reached through sorrow.

January Twenty-first.

AS light displaces darkness, and quiet follows storm, so gladness displaces sorrow, and peace comes

after pain. The deeper wisdom which flows from acquaintance with sorrow brings with it a holier and

more abiding joy than that shallow excitement that preceded sorrow. Between the lesser joys of the

senses and the greater joy of the spirit lies the dark vale of sorrow through which all earthly pilgrims

pass, and having passed through it, the heavenly Joy, the Abiding Gladness, is henceforth our

companion. They who have passed from the earthly to the heavenly pilgrimage have lifted the dark veil

of sorrow from the radiant face of Truth.

He whose treasure is Truth, who fashions his life in accordance with Wisdom, will find the Joy which

does not pass away; crossing the wide ocean of illusion, he will come to the sorrowless Shore.

All outward oppression is but the shadow and effect of the real oppression within.

January Twenty-second.

IN happiness and unhappiness, in joy and sorrow, in success and failure, in victory and defeat; in

religion, business, circumstances ; in all the issues of life, the determining factor is character. In the

mentality of individuals lie the hidden causes of all that pertains to their outward life. Character is both

cause and effect. It is the doer of deeds and the recipient of results. Heaven, hell, purgatory, are

contained within it. The character that is impure and vicious will experience a life from which the

elements of happiness and beauty are lacking, wheresoever they may be placed ; but a pure and

virtuous character will show forth a life that is happy and beautiful. As you make your character, so

will you shape your life.

To put away self and passion, and establish one’s self in right doing, this is the highest wisdom.

Not departing from the path of holiness, but surmounting all difficulties and continuing to the end

whosoever does this will comprehend Truth.

January Twenty-third.

WHEN great difficulties arise, and troubles beset, regard your perplexity as a call to deeper thought and

more vigorous action. Nothing will attack you that you are not capable of overcoming; no problem will

vex you that you cannot solve. The greater your trial, the greater your test of strength, and the more

complete and triumphant your victory. However complicated your maze of confusion may be, there is a

way out of it, and the finding of that way will exercise your powers to the utmost, and will bring out all

your latent skill, energy, and resource. When you have mastered that which threatens to master you,

you will rejoice in a new-found strength.

Knowing the Truth by practice, and being at one with Truth, you will be invincible, for Truth cannot be

confounded or overthrown.

Look not outside thee nor behind thee for the light and blessedness of Truth, but look within.

January Twenty-fourth.

WE advance by a series of efforts. We gather strength, whether mental or physical, by a succession of

strivings in given directions. Exertion, oft repeated, leads to power. It is by obeying this law that the

athlete trains himself to accomplish wonderful feats of speed or endurance. When the exertion is along

intellectual lines, it leads to unusual talent, or genius ; and when in spiritual channels, it leads to

wisdom, or transcendent greatness. We should not mourn when circumstances are driving us to greater

efforts and more protracted exertion. Events are only evil to the mind that makes them so. They are

good to him that accepts their discipline as salutary.

Thou wilt find Truth within the narrow sphere of thy duty, even in the humble and hidden sacrifices of

thine own heart.

There is no blessedness anywhere until impatience is sacrificed.

January Twenty-fifth.

DESPONDENCY, anxiety, worry, and irritability cannot cure the ills against which they are directed.

They only add more misery to the troubles that prompt them. The cultivation of a steadfast and serene

spirit cannot be overlooked if life is to yield any measure of usefulness and happiness. The trifles, and

even greater troubles, which annoy would soon dissolve and disappear if confronted with a temper that

refuses to be ruffled and disturbed. Personal aims, wishes, schemes, and pleasures will meet with

checks, rebuffs, and obstacles ; and it is in learning to meet these reverses in a wise and calm spirit that

we discover the true and abiding happiness within our heart.

When impatience and irritability are put away, then is realised and enjoyed the blessedness of a strong,

quiet, and peaceful mind.

The greatest blessedness comes to him who infuses into his mind the purest and noblest thoughts.

January Twenty-sixth.

WE are becoming wise when we know and realise that happiness abides in certain habits of mind, or

mental characteristics, rather than in material possessions, or in certain combinations of circumstances.

It is a common delusion to imagine that if one only possessed this or that— a little more money, a little

more leisure, this man‘s talent, or that man‘s opportunities; or if one had better friends, or more

favourable surroundings—one would be happy with a perfect felicity. Alas ! discontent and misery lie

in such vain wishes. If happiness is not already found within, it will never be found without. The

happiness of a wise mind abides through all vicissitudes.

Your whole life is a series of effects, having their cause in thought—in your own thought.

A sweet and happy soul is the ripened fruit of experience and wisdom,.

January Twenty-seventh.

THERE is an infinite patience in nature which it is profitable to contemplate. A comet may take a

thousand years to complete its orbit; the sea may occupy ten thousand years in wearing away the land ;

the complete evolution of the human race may occupy millions of years. This should make us ashamed

of our hurry, fussiness, discontent, disappointments, and ridiculous self-importance over trifling things

of an hour or a day. Patience is conducive to the highest greatness, the most far-reaching usefulness,

and the profoundest peace. Without it, life will lose much of its power and influence, and its joy win be

largely destroyed.

"So with well-ordered strenuousness Raise thou thy structure of Success."

He who fills with useful pursuits the minutes as they come and go grows old in honour and wisdom,

and prosperity abides with him.

No pure thought, no unselfish deed, can fall short of its felicitous results, and every such result is a

happy consummation.

January Twenty-eighth.

IF to-day is cold and gloomy, is that a cause for despair ? Do we not know that there are warm, bright

days ahead ? Already the birds are beginning to sing, and the tremulous trill in their little throats is

prophetic of the approaching love of a new spring, and of the bounty of a summer that as yet is but a

sleeping germ in the womb of this gloomy day, but whose birth is sure, and its full growth certain. No

effort is vain. The spring of all your aspirations is near—very near ; and the summer of your unselfish

deeds will surely come to pass.

Self shall depart, and Truth shall take its place ;

The Changeless One, the Indivisible, Shall take up His abode in me, and cleanse

The White Robe of the Heart Invisible.

Go to your task with love in your heart, and you will go to it light-hearted and cheerful.

All evil is corrective and remedial, and is therefore not permanent.

January Twenty-ninth.

BY earnest self-examination strive to realise, and not merely hold as a theory, that evil is a passing

phase, a self-created shadow ; that all your pains, sorrows, and misfortunes have come to you by a

process of undeviating and absolutely perfect law ; have come to you because you deserve and require

them, and that by first enduring, and then understanding them, you may be made stronger, wiser,

nobler. When you have fully entered into this realisation, you will be in a position to mould your own

circumstances, to transmute all evil into good, and to weave, with a master hand, the fabric of your

destiny.

Cease to be a disobedient child in the school of experience, and begin to learn, with humility and

patience, the lessons that are set for your ultimate perfection.

Mediation centred upon divine realities is the very essence and soul of prayer.

January Thirtieth.

TELL me what that is upon which you most frequently and intensely think, that to which, in your silent

hours, your soul most naturally turns, and I will tell you to what place of pain or peace you are

travelling, and whether you are growing into the likeness of the divine or the bestial. There is an

unavoidable tendency to become literally the embodiment of that quality upon which one most

constantly thinks. Let, therefore, the object of your meditation be above and not below, so that every

time that you revert to it in thought you will be lifted up ; let it be pure and unmixed with any selfish

element; so shall your heart become purified and drawn nearer to Truth, and not defiled and dragged

more hopelessly into error.

Meditation is the secret of all growth in spiritual life and knowledge.

If you ceaselessly think upon that which is pure and unselfish, you will surely become pure and

unselfish.

January Thirty-first.

IF you are daily praying for wisdom, for peace, for loftier purity, and a fuller realisation of Truth, and

that for which you pray is still far from you, it means that you are praying for one thing, whilst living

out in thought and act another. If you will cease from such waywardness, taking your mind off those

things, the selfish clinging to which debars you from the possession of the stainless realities for which

you pray ; if you will no longer ask God to grant you that which you do not deserve, or to bestow upon

you that love and compassion which you refuse to bestow upon others, but will commence to think and

act in the spirit of Truth, you will day by day be growing into those realities, so that ultimately you will

become one with them.

Enter the path of Meditation, and let the supreme object of your meditation be Truth.

Unrest and pain and sorrow are the shadows of life.

February first.

IS there no way of escape from pain and sorrow ? Are there no means by which the bonds of evil may

be broken ? Is permanent happiness and abiding peace a foolish dream ? No, there is a way—and I

speak it with gladness—by which evil may be slain for ever ; there is a process by which every adverse

condition or circumstance can be put on one side for ever, never to return ; and there is a practice by

which unbroken and unending peace and bliss can be partaken of and realised. And the beginning of the

way which leads to this glorious realisation is the acquirement of a right understanding of the nature of

evil. It is not sufficient to deny or ignore evil ; it must be understood.

Men remain in evil because they are not willing or prepared to learn the lesson which it came to teach

them.

You must get outside yourself, and must begin to examine and understand yourself.

February Second.

EVIL, when rightly understood, is found to be, not an unlimited power or principle in the universe, but

a passing phase of human experience, and it therefore becomes a teacher to those who are willing to

learn. Evil is not an abstract something outside yourself; it is an experience in your own heart, and by

patiently examining and rectifying your heart you will be gradually led into the discovery of the origin

and nature of evil, which will necessarily be followed by its complete eradication. ... There is no evil in

the universe which is not the result of ignorance, and which would not, if we were ready and willing to

learn its lesson, lead us to higher wisdom, and then vanish away.

Every soul attracts its own, and nothing can possibly come to it that does not belong to it.

What you are, so is your world.

February Third.

ALL that you positively know is contained in your own experience ; all that you ever will know must

pass through the gateway of experience, and so become part of yourself. Your own thoughts, desires,

and aspirations comprise your world, and, to you, all that there is in the universe of beauty, and joy, and

bliss, or of ugliness, and sorrow, and pain, is contained within yourself. By your own thoughts you

make or mar your life, your world, your universe. As you build within by the power of thought, so will

your outward life and circumstances shape themselves accordingly. Whatsoever you harbour in the

inmost chambers of your heart will, sooner or later, by the inevitable law of reaction, shape itself in

your outward life.

Every soul is a complex combination of gathered experiences and thoughts, and the body is but an

improvised vehicle for its manifestation.

To them, that seek the highest Good All things subserve the wisest ends.

February fourth.

HE who clings to self is his own enemy, and is surrounded by enemies. He who relinquishes self is his

own saviour, and is surrounded by friends like a protecting belt. Before the divine radiance of a pure

heart all darkness vanishes and all clouds melt away, and he who has conquered self has conquered the

universe. Come, then, out of your poverty ; come out of your pain ; come out of your troubles, and

sighings, and complainings, and heartaches, and loneliness by coming out of yourself. Let the old

tattered garment of your petty selfishness fall from you, and put on the new garment of universal Love.

You will then realise the inward heaven, and it will be reflected in all your outward life.

All glory and all good await The coming of Obedient feet.

All men’s accomplishments were first wrought out in thought, and then objectivised.

February Fifth.

WHEN the thought-forces are directed in harmony with the over-ruling Law, they are up-building and

preservative, but when subverted they become disintegrating and self-destructive. To adjust all your

thoughts to a perfect and unswerving faith in the omnipotence and supremacy of Good is to co-operate

with that Good, and to realise within yourself the solution and destruction of all evil. Believe and ye

shall live. And here we have the true meaning of salvation ; salvation from the darkness and negation

of evil, by entering into and realising the living light of the Eternal Good.

It is the silent and conquering thought-forces which bring all things into manifestation.

There is nothing that a strong faith and an unflinching purpose may not accomplish.

February Sixth.

THERE is no difficulty, however great, but will yield before a calm and powerful concentration of

thought, and no legitimate object but may be speedily actualised by the intelligent use and direction of

one‘s soul-forces.

Not until you have gone deeply and searchingly into your inner nature, and have overcome many

enemies that lurk there, can you have any approximate conception of the subtle power of thought, of its

inseparable relation to outward and material things, or of its magical potency, when rightly poised and

directed, in re-adjusting and transforming the life-conditions. Every thought you think is a force sent

out, and in accordance with its nature and intensity will it go out to seek a lodgment in minds receptive

to it, and will react upon yourself for good or evil.

Think good thoughts, and they will quickly become actualised in your outward life in the form of good

conditions.

He only is fitted to command and control who has succeeded in commanding and controlling himself.

February Seventh.

IF you would acquire overcoming power, you must cultivate poise and passivity. You must be able to

stand alone. All power is associated with immovability. The mountain, the massive rock, the storm-

tried oak, all speak to us of power, because of their combined solitary grandeur and defiant fixity ;

while the shifting sand, the yielding twig, and the waving reed speak to us of weakness, because they

are movable and non-resistant, and are utterly useless when detached from their fellows. He is the man

of power who, when all his fellows are swayed by some emotion or passion, remains calm and

unmoved. The hysterical, the fearful, the thoughtless and frivolous, let such seek company, or they will

fall for lack of support; but the calm, the fearless, the thoughtful and grave, let such seek solitude, and

to their power more power will be added.

Be of single aim. Have a legitimate and useful purpose, and devote yourself unreservedly to it.

Self-seeking is self-destruction

February Eighth.

IF you would realise true prosperity, do not settle down, as many have done, into the belief that if you

do right everything will go wrong. Do not allow the word competition to shake your faith in the

supremacy of righteousness. I care not what man may say about the laws of competition, for do I not

know the Unchangeable Law, which shall one day put them all to rout, and which puts them to rout

even now in the heart and life of the righteous man ? And knowing this Law I can contemplate all

dishonesty with undisturbed repose, for I know where certain destruction awaits it. Those who have

wandered from the highway of righteousness guard themselves against competition ; those who always

pursue the right need not to trouble about such defence.

Under all circumstances do that which you believe to be right, and trust the Law ; trust the Divine

Power, and you will always be protected.

Perfect Love is Perfect Power.

February ninth.

THE wisely loving heart commands without exercising any authority. All things and all men obey him

who obeys the Highest. He thinks, and lo ! he has already accomplished ! He speaks, and behold ! a

world hangs upon his simple utterances ! He has harmonised his thoughts with the Imperishable and

Unconquerable Forces, and for him weakness and uncertainty are no more. His every thought is a

purpose ; his every act an accomplishment; he moves with the Great Law, not setting his puny personal

will against it, and he thus becomes a channel through which the Divine Power can flow in unimpeded

and beneficent expression. He has thus become Power itself.

Perfect Love is Perfect Wisdom.

If you really seek Truth, you will be willing to make the effort necessary for its achievement.

February Tenth.

AT the outset, meditation must be distinguished from idle reverie. There is nothing dreamy and

unpractical about it. It is a process of searching and uncompromising thought which allows nothing to

remain but the simple and naked truth. Thus meditating you will no longer strive to build yourself up in

your prejudices, but, forgetting self, you will remember only that you are seeking the Truth. And so you

will remove, one by one, the errors which you have built around yourself in the past, and will patiently

wait for the revelation of Truth which will come when your errors have been sufficiently removed.

Let the supreme object of your meditation be Truth.

As the flower opens its petals to receive the morning light, so open your soul more and more to the

glorious light of Truth.

February Eleventh.

SPIRITUAL meditation and self-discipline are inseparable ; you will, therefore, commence to meditate

upon yourself so as to try and understand yourself, for, remember, the great object you will have in

view will be the complete removal of all your errors in order that you may realise Truth. You will begin

to question your motives, thoughts, and acts, comparing them with your ideal, and endeavouring to

look upon them with a calm and impartial eye. In this manner you will be continually gaining more of

that mental and spiritual equilibrium without which men are but helpless straws upon the ocean of life.

Soar upward on the wings of aspiration ; be fearless, and believe in the loftiest possibilities.

A beginning is a cause, and, as such it must be followed by an effect.

February Twelfth.

THE nature of an initial impulse will always determine the body of its results. A beginning also

presupposes an ending, a consummation, achievement, or goal. A gate leads to a path, and the path

leads to some particular destination ; so a beginning leads to results, and results lead to a completion.

There are right beginnings and wrong beginnings, which are followed by effects of a like nature. You

can, by careful thought, avoid wrong beginnings and make right beginnings, and so escape evil results

and enjoy good results. In aiming at the life of Blessedness, one of the simplest beginnings to be

considered and rightly made is that which we all make every day—namely, the beginning of each day‘s

life.

The effect will always be of the same nature as the cause.

Wisdom inheres in the common details of everyday existence.

February Thirteenth.

EVERYTHING in the universe is made of little things, and the perfection of the great is based upon the

perfection up of the small. If any detail of the universe were imperfect, the whole would be imperfect.

If any particle were omitted, the aggregate would cease to be. Without a grain of dust there would be no

world, and the whole is perfect because the grain of dust is perfect. Neglect of the small is confusion of

the great. The snowdrop is as perfect as the star ; the dewdrop is as symmetrical as the planet ; the

microbe is not less mathematically proportioned than the man. By laying stone upon stone, plumbing

and fitting each with perfect adjustment, the temple at last stands forth in all its architectural beauty.

When the parts are made perfect, the Whole will be without blemish.

To neglect small tasks, or to execute them in a perfunctory manner, is a mark of weakness and folly.

February Fourteenth.

THE great man knows the vast value that inheres in moments, words, greetings, meals, apparel,

correspondence, rest, work, detached efforts, fleeting obligations, in the thousand-and-one little things

which press upon him for attention— briefly, in the common details of life. He sees everything as

divinely apportioned, needing only the application of dispassionate thought and action on his part to

render life blessed and perfect. He neglects nothing, does not hurry, seeks to escape nothing but error

and folly; attends to every duty as it is presented to him, and does not postpone and regret. By giving

himself unreservedly to his nearest duty, he attains to that combined childlike simplicity and

unconscious power which is greatness.

There is no way to strength and wisdom but by acting strongly and wisely in the present moment.

He who masters the small becomes the rightful possessor of the great.

February Fifteenth.

THE foolish man thinks that little faults, little indulgences, little sins, are of no consequence; he

persuades himself that so long as he does not commit flagrant immoralities he is virtuous, and even

holy; but he is thereby deprived of virtue and holiness, and the world knows him accordingly ; it does

not reverence, adore, and love him ; it passes him by ; he is reckoned of no account; his influence is

destroyed. The efforts of such a man to make the world virtuous, his exhortations to his fellow men to

abandon great vices, are empty of substance and barren of fruitage. The insignificance which he

attaches to his small vices permeates his whole character, and is the measure of his manhood.

He who regards his smallest delinquencies as of the gravest nature becomes a saint.

Truth is wrapped up in infinitesimal details.

February Sixteenth.

AS the year consists of a given number of sequential moments, so a man‘s character and life consists of

a given number of sequential thoughts and deeds, and the finished whole will bear the impress of the

parts. Little kindnesses, generosities, and sacrifices make up a kind and generous character. The truly

honest man is honest in the minutest details of his life. The noble man is noble in every little thing he

says and does. You do not live your life in the mass ; you live it in fragments, and from these the mass

emerges. You can will to live each fragment nobly if you choose, and, this being done, there can be no

particle of baseness in the finished whole.

Thoroughness is genius.

Truth in its very nature is ineffable and can only be lived.

February Seventeenth.

TRUTH is the one Reality in the universe, the inward Harmony, the perfect Justice, the eternal Love.

Nothing can be added to it, nor taken from it. It does not depend upon any man, but all men depend

upon it. You cannot perceive the beauty of Truth while you are looking out from the eyes of self. If you

are vain, you will colour everything with your own vanities. If lustful, your heart and mind will be

clouded with the smoke and flames of passion, and everything will appear distorted through them. If

proud and opinionative, you will see nothing in the whole universe except the magnitude and

importance of your own opinions. The humble Truth-lover has learned to distinguish between opinion

and Truth. He who has most of Charity has most of Truth.

There is but one religion, the religion of Truth.

February Eighteenth.

YOU may easily know whether you are a child of Truth or a worshipper of self, if you will silently

examine your mind, heart, and conduct. Do you harbour thoughts of suspicion, enmity, envy, lust, pride

; or do you strenuously fight against these ? If the former, you are chained to self, no matter what

religion you may profess ; if the latter, you are a candidate for Truth, even though outwardly you may

profess no religion. Are you passionate, self-willed, ever seeking to gain your own ends, self-indulgent,

and self-centred; or are you gentle, mild, unselfish, quit of every form of self-indulgence, and are ever

ready to give up your own ? If the former, self is your master ; if the latter, Truth is the object of your

affection.

The signs by which the Truth-lover is known are unmistakable.

That which temptation appeals to and arouses is unconquered desire.

February Nineteenth.

TEMPTATION waylays the man of aspiration until he touches the region of the divine consciousness,

and beyond that border temptation cannot follow him. It is when a man begins to aspire that he begins

to be tempted. Aspiration rouses up all the latent good and evil, in order that the man may be fully

revealed to himself, for a man cannot overcome himself unless he fully knows himself. It can scarcely

be said of the merely animal man that he is tempted, for the very presence of temptation means that

there is a striving for a purer state. Animal desire and gratification is the normal condition of the man

who has not yet risen into aspiration ; he wishes for nothing more, nothing better, than his sensual

enjoyments, and is, for the present, satisfied. Such a man cannot be tempted to fall, for he has not yet

risen.

Aspiration can carry a man to heaven.

A man must know himself, if he is to know Truth.

February Twentieth.

LET the tempted one know this : that he himself is both tempter and tempted; that all his enemies are

within; that the flatterers which seduce, the taunts which stab, and the flames which burn, all spring

from that inner region of ignorance and error in which he has hitherto lived; and knowing this, let him

be assured of complete victory over evil. When he is sorely tempted, let him not mourn, therefore, but

let him rejoice in that his strength is tried and his weakness exposed. For he who truly knows and

humbly acknowledges his weakness will not be slow in setting about the acquisition of strength.

He who cannot fearlessly face his lower nature cannot climb the rugged heights of renunciation.

Seek diligently the path of holiness.

February Twenty-first.

THE giving up of self is not merely the renunciation of outward things. It consists of the renunciation

of the inward sin, the inward error. Not by giving up vain clothing; not by relinquishing riches ; not by

abstaining from certain foods ; not by speaking smooth words ; not by merely doing these things is the

Truth found. But by giving up the spirit of vanity; by relinquishing the desire for riches ; by abstaining

from the lust of self-indulgence ; by giving up all hatred, strife, condemnation, and self-seeking, and

becoming gentle and pure at heart, by doing these things is the Truth found.

The renunciation of self is the way of Truth.

He who ceases to be passion’s slave becomes a master-builder in the Temple of Destiny,

February Twenty-second.

A MAN commences to develop power when, checking his impulses and selfish inclinations, he falls

back upon the higher and calmer consciousness within him, and begins to steady himself upon a

principle.

The realisation of unchanging principles in consciousness is at once the source and secret of the highest

power.

When, after much searching, and suffering, and sacrificing, the light of an eternal principle dawns upon

the soul, a divine calm ensues and joy unspeakable gladdens the heart.

He who has realised such a principle ceases to wander, and remains poised and self-possessed.

Only that work endures that is built upon an indestructible principle.

Men and women of real power and influence are few.

February Twenty-third.

IT is easy for a man, so long as he is left in the enjoyments of his possessions, to persuade himself that

he believes in and adheres to the principles of Peace, Brotherhood, and Universal Love ; but if, when

his enjoyments are threatened, or he imagines they are threatened, he begins to clamour loudly for war,

he shows that he believes in and stands upon, not Peace, Brotherhood, and Love, but strife, selfishness,

and hatred.

He who does not desert his principles when threatened with the loss of every earthly thing, even to the

loss of reputation and life, is the man of power, is the man whose every word endures, is the man whom

the after-world honours, reveres, and worships.

There is no way to the acquirement of spiritual power except by that inward illumination and

enlightenment.

All pain and sorrow is spiritual starvation, and aspiration is the cry for food.

February Twenty-fourth.

MAN‘S essential being is inward, invisible, spiritual, and as such it derives its life, its strength, from

within not from without. Outward things are channels through which its energies are expended, but for

renewal it must fall back on the inward silence. In so far as man seeks to drown this silence in the noisy

pleasures of the senses, and endeavours to live in the conflicts of outward things, just so much does he

reap the experiences of pain and sorrow, which, becoming at last intolerable, drive him back to the feet

of the inward Comforter, to the shrine of the peaceful solitude within.

It is in solitude only that a man can be truly revealed to himself.

Inward harmony is spiritual power,

February Twenty-fifth.

TAKE the principle of Divine Love, and quietly and diligently meditate upon it with the object of

arriving at a thorough understanding of it. Bring its searching light to bear upon all your habits, your

actions, your speech and intercourse with others, your every secret thought and desire. As you

persevere in this course, the Divine Love will become more and more perfectly revealed to you, and

your own shortcomings will stand out in more and more vivid contrast, spurring you on to renewed

endeavour ; and having once caught a glimpse of the incomparable majesty of that imperishable

principle, you will never again rest in your weakness, your selfishness, your imperfection, but will

pursue that Love until you have relinquished every discordant element, and have brought yourself into

perfect harmony with it.

Make no stay, no resting-place, until the inmost garment of your soul is bereft of every stain.

In solitude a man gathers strength to meet the difficulties and temptations of life.

February Twenty-sixth.

JUST as the body requires rest for the recuperation of its forces, so the spirit requires solitude for the

renewal of its energies. Solitude is as indispensable to man‘s spiritual welfare as sleep is to his bodily

well-being ; and pure thought, or meditation, which is evoked in solitude, is to the spirit what activity is

to the body. As the body breaks down when deprived of the needful rest and sleep, so do the spirits of

men break down when deprived of the necessary silence and solitude. Man, as a spiritual being, cannot

be maintained in strength, uprightness, and peace except he periodically withdraw himself from the

outer world of perishable things, and reach inwardly towards the abiding and imperishable realities.

He who loves Truth, who desires and seeks wisdom, will be much alone.

Human loves are reflections of the Divine Love.

February Twenty-seventh.

MEN, clinging to self, and to the comfortless shadows of evil, are in the habit of thinking of Divine

Love as something belonging to a God who is out of reach ; as something outside themselves, and that

must for ever remain outside. Truly, the Love of God is ever beyond the reach of self, but when the

heart and mind are emptied of self then the selfless Love, the supreme Love, the Love that is of God, or

Good, becomes an inward and abiding reality.

And this inward realisation of holy Love is none other than the Love of Christ, that is so much talked

about, and so little comprehended ; the Love that not only saves the soul from sin, but lifts it also above

the power of temptation.

Divine Love knows neither sorrow nor change.

Let a man learn to stand alone.

February Twenty-eighth.

IF a man can find no peace within himself, where shall he find it ? If he dreads to be alone with

himself, what steadfastness shall he find in company ? If he can find no joy in communion with his

own thoughts, how shall he escape misery in his contact with others ? The man who has yet found

nothing within himself upon which to stand will nowhere find a place of constant rest. Without is

change, and decay, and insecurity; within is all surety and blessedness. The soul is sufficient of itself.

Where the need is, there is the abundant supply. Your eternal dwelling-place is within.

Be rich in yourself, be complete in yourself.

Find your centre of balance and succeed in standing alone.

February Twenty-ninth.

UNTIL you can stand alone, looking for guidance neither to spirits nor mortals, gods nor men, but

guiding yourself by the light of the truth within you, you are not unfettered and free, not altogether

blessed. But do not mistake pride for self-reliance. To attempt to stand upon the crumbling foundation

of pride is to be already fallen. No man depends upon others more than the proud man. His happiness is

entirely in the hands of others. But the self-reliant man stands, not upon personal pride, but on an

abiding law, principle, ideal, reality, within himself. Upon this he poises himself, refusing to be swept

from his strong foothold either by the waves of passion within or the storms of opinion without.

Find the joy that results from well-earned freedom, the peace that flows from wise self-possession, the

blessedness that inheres in native strength.

As the fountain from the hidden spring, so issues man’s life from the secret recesses of his heart.

March First.

AS the heart, so is the life. The within is ceaselessly becoming the without. Nothing remains

unrevealed. That which is hidden is but for a time ; it ripens and comes forth at last. Seed, tree,

blossom, and fruit is the fourfold order of the universe. From the state of a man s heart proceed the

conditions of his life ; his thoughts blossom into deeds, and his deeds bear the fruitage of character and

destiny.

Life is ever unfolding from within, and revealing itself to the light, and thoughts engendered in the

heart at last reveal themselves in words, actions, and things accomplished.

Mind clothes itself in garments of its own making.

There is no nobler work or higher science than that of self-perfection.

March Second.

LET man realise that life in its totality proceeds from the mind, and lo, the way of blessedness is

opened to him. For he will then discover that he possesses the power to rule his mind, and to fashion it

in accordance with his ideal. So will he elect to strongly and steadfastly walk those pathways of

thought and action which are altogether excellent ; to him life will become beautiful and sacred ; and,

sooner or later, he will put to flight all evil, confusion, and suffering ; for it is impossible for a man to

fall short of liberation, enlightenment, and peace who guards with unwearying diligence the gateway of

his heart.

He who aims at the possession of a calm, wise, and seeing mind engages in the most sublime task that

man can undertake.

A thought constantly repeated at last becomes a fixed habit.

March Third.

IT is in the nature of the mind to acquire knowledge by the repetition of its experiences. A thought

which it is very difficult, at first, to hold and to dwell upon, at last becomes, by constantly being held in

the mind, a natural and habitual condition. Just as a boy, when commencing to learn a trade, cannot

even handle his tools aright, much less use them correctly, but after long repetition and practice plies

them with perfect ease and consummate skill, so a state of mind at first apparently impossible of

realisation is, by perseverance and practice, at last acquired and built into the character as a natural and

spontaneous condition.

In this power of the mind to form and reform its habits, its conditions, is contained the basis of man‘s

salvation, and the open door to perfect liberty by the mastery of sen.

When the heart is pure all outward things are pure.

Every sin may be overcome.

March Fourth.

A MAN‘S life, in its totality, proceeds from his mind, and his mind is a combination of habits, which

he can, by patient effort, modify to any extent, and over which he can gain complete ascendancy and

control. Let a man realise this, and he has at once obtained possession of the key which shall open the

door to his complete emancipation.

But emancipation from the ills of life (which are the ills of one s mind) is a matter of steady growth

from within, and not a sudden acquisition from without. Hourly and daily must the mind be trained to

think stainless thoughts, and to adopt right and dispassionate attitudes, until he has wrought out of it the

Ideal of his holiest dreams.

The Higher Life is a higher living in thought, word, and deed.

Without the right performance of Duty, the higher virtues cannot be known.

March Fifth.

ALL duty should be regarded as sacred, and its faithful and unselfish performance one of the leading

rules of conduct. All personal and selfish considerations should be extracted and cast away from the

doing of one‘s duty ; and when this is done, Duty ceases to be irksome, and becomes joyful. Duty is

only irksome to him who craves some selfish enjoyment or benefit for himself. Let the man who is

chafing under the irksome-ness of his duty look to himself, and he will find that his wearisomeness

proceeds, not from the duty itself, but from his selfish desire to escape it. He who neglects duty, be it

great or small, or of a public or private nature, neglects Virtue ; and he who in his heart rebels against

Duty rebels against Virtue.

The virtuous man concentrates his mind on the perfect doing of his own duty.

Man is the doer of his own deeds ; as such he is the maker of his own character.

March Sixth.

THOSE things which befall a man are the reflections of himself; that destiny which pursued him,

which he was powerless to escape by effort, or avert by prayer, was the relentless ghoul of his own

wrong deeds demanding and enforcing restitution ; those blessings and curses which come to him

unbidden are the reverberating echoes of the sounds which he himself sent forth.

Man finds himself involved in the train of causation. His life is made up of causes and effects. It is both

a sowing and a reaping. Each act of his is a cause which must be balanced by its effects. He chooses the

cause (this is Free-will), he cannot choose, alter, or avert the effect (this is Fate) ; thus Free-will stands

for the power to initiate causes, and destiny is involvement in effects.

Character is destiny.

Every form of unhappiness springs from a wrong condition of mind.

March Seventh.

ALL sin is ignorance. It is a condition of darkness and undevelopment. The wrong-thinker and the

wrong-doer is in the same position in the school of life as is the ignorant pupil in the school of learning.

He has yet to learn how to think and act correctly, that is, in accordance with Law. The pupil in learning

is not happy so long as he does his lessons wrongly, and unhappiness cannot be escaped while sin

remains uncon-

quered.

Life is a series of lessons. Some are diligent in learning them, and they become pure, wise, and

altogether happy. Others are negligent, and do not apply themselves, and they remain impure, foolish,

and unhappy.

Happiness is mental harmony.

If one would find peace, he must come out of passion.

March Eighth.

SELFISHNESS, or passion, not only subsists in the gross forms of greed and glaringly ungoverned

conditions of mind ; it informs also every hidden thought which is subtly connected with the

assumption and glorification of one s self ; and it is most deceiving and subtle when it prompts one to

dwell upon the selfishness of others, to accuse them of it and to talk about it. The man who continually

dwells upon the selfishness in others will not thus overcome his own selfishness. Not by accusing

others do we come out of selfishness, but by purifying ourselves. The way from passion to peace is not

by hurling painful charges against others, but by overcoming one s self. By eagerly striving to subdue

the selfishness of others, we remain passion-bound ; by patiently overcoming our own selfishness we

ascend into freedom.

The ascending pathway is always at hand. It is the way of self-conquest.

Aspiration—the rapture of the saints.

March Ninth.

ON the wings of aspiration man rises from earth to heaven, from ignorance to knowledge, from the

under darkness to the upper light. Without it he remains a grovelling animal, earthly, sensual,

unenlightened, and uninspired.

Aspiration is the longing for heavenly things —for righteousness, compassion, purity, love— as

distinguished from desire, which is the longing for earthly things—for selfish possesions, personal

dominance, low pleasures, and sensual gratifications. For one to begin to aspire means that he is

dissatisfied with his low estate, and is aiming at a higher condition. It is a sure sign that he is roused out

of his lethargic sleep of animality, and has become conscious of nobler attainments and a fuller life.

Aspiration makes all things possible.

The man of aspiration sees before him the pathway up to the heavenly heights.

March Tenth.

WHEN the rapture of aspiration touches the mind it at once refines it, and the dross of its impurities

begins to fall away ; yea, while aspiration holds the mind, no impurities can enter it, for the impure and

the pure cannot at the same moment occupy the thought. But the effort of aspiration is at first

spasmodic and short-lived. The mind falls back into its habitual error and must be constantly renewed.

To thirst for righteousness ; to hunger for the pure life ; to rise in holy rapture on the wings af angelic

aspiration—this is the right road to wisdom ; this is the right striving for peace; this is the right

beginning of the way divine.

The lover of the pure life renews his mind daily with the invigorating glow of aspiration.

Error is sifted away. The Gold of Truth remains.

March Eleventh.

SPIRITUAL transmutation consists in an entire reversal of the ordinary self-seeking attitude of mind

towards men and things, and this reversal brings about an entirely new set of experiences. Thus the

desire for a certain pleasure is abandoned, cut off at its source, and not allowed to have any place in the

consciousness ; but the mental force which that desire represented is not annihilated, it is transferred to

a higher region of thought, transmuted into a purer form of energy. The law of conservation of energy

obtains universally in mind as in matter, and the force shut off in lower directions is liberated in higher

realms of spiritual activity.

The clear and cloudless heights of spiritual enlightenment.

The early stage of transmutation is painful but brief, for the pain is soon transformed into pure

spiritual joy.

March Twelfth.

ALONG the Saintly Way towards the divine life, the midway region of Transmutation is the Country of

Sacrifice, it is the Plain of Renunciation. Old passions, old desires, old ambitions and thoughts, are cast

away and abandoned, but only to reappear in some more beautiful, more permanent, more eternally

satisfying form. As valuable jewels, long guarded and cherished, are thrown tearfully into the melting-

pot, yet are remoulded into new and perfect adornments, so the spiritual alchemist, at first loth to part

company with long-cherished thoughts and habits, at last gives them up, to discover, a little later, to his

joy, that they have come back to him in the form of new faculties, rarer powers, and purer joys,

spiritual jewels newly burnished, beautiful, and resplendent.

The wise man meets passion with peace, hatred with love, and returns good for evil.

The present is the synthesis of the entire past; the net result of all that a man has ever thought and done

is contained within him.

March Thirteenth.

IT is this knowledge of the Perfect Law working through and above all things; of the Perfect Justice

operating in and adjusting all human affairs, that enables the good man to love his enemies, and to rise

above all hatred, resentment, and complaining ; for he knows that only his own can come to him, and

that, though he be surrounded by persecutors, his enemies are but the blind instruments of a faultless

retribution ; and so he blames them not, but calmly receives his accounts, and patiently pays his moral

debts. But this is not all; he does not merely pay his debts ; he takes care not to contract any further

debts. He watches himself and makes his deeds faultless.

Characteristics are fixed habits of mind, the results of deeds.

Heaven and hell are in this world.

March Fourteenth.

NOTHING comes unbidden ; where the shadow is, there also is the substance. That which comes to the

individual is the product of his own deeds. As cheerful industry leads to greater industry and increasing

prosperity, and labour shirked or undertaken discontentedly leads to a lesser degree of labour and

decreasing prosperity, so with all the varied conditions of life as we see them—they are the effects of

deeds, destinies wrought by the thoughts and deeds of each particular individual. So also with the vast

variety of characters—they are the ripening and ripened growth of the sowing of deeds, a sowing not

confined solely to this visible life, but going backward through that infinite life which traverses the

portals of innumerable births and deaths, and which also will extend into the illimitable future, reaping

its own harvests, eating the sweet and bitter fruits of its own deeds.

Life is a great school for the development of character.

Purification of the heart by repetitive thought on pure things.

March Fifteenth.

MAN is a thought-being, and his life and character are determined by the thoughts in which he

habitually dwells. By practice, association, and habit, thoughts tend to repeat themselves with greater

and greater ease and frequency, and so fix the character in a given direction by producing that

automatic action which is called "habit." By daily dwelling upon pure thoughts, the man of meditation

forms the habit of pure and enlightened thinking which leads to pure and enlightened actions, and well-

performed actions. By the ceaseless repetition of pure thoughts, he at last becomes one with those

thoughts, and is a purified being, manifesting his attainment in pure actions.

Attainment of divine knowledge by embodying such purity in practical life.

He who will control himself will put an end to all

his sufferings.

March Sixteenth.

BLESSED is that day, and not to be forgotten, when a man discovers that he himself is his own undoer

and his own saviour. That within himself is the cause of all his suffering and lack of knowledge, and

that also within is the source of all peace, enlightenment, and Godliness. Selfish thoughts, impure

desires, and acts not shaped by Truth are the baneful seeds from which all suffering springs; while

selfless thoughts, pure aspirations, and the sweet acts of Truth are the seeds from which all blessedness

grows.

He who will deny himself will find the holy place where calmness lives.

He who will purify himself will destroy all his ignorance.

March Seventeenth.

HE who governs his tongue is greater than a successful disputant in the arena of intellectualism ; he

who controls well his mind is more powerful than the king of many nations ; and he who holds himself

in entire subjection is more than gods and angels. When a man who is enslaved by self realises that he

must work out his own salvation, in that moment he will rise up in the dignity of his divine manhood

and say, "Henceforward I will be a master in Israel, and not a slave in the House of Bondage."

Not until a man realises this, and commences to patiently purify his inner life, can he find the way

which leads to lasting peace.

A life of perfect peace and blessedness by means of self-government and self-enlightenment.

Impatience is a handmaid of impulse, and never helped any man.

March Eighteenth.

YOU will be greatly helped if you devote at least one hour every day to quiet meditation on lofty moral

subjects and their application to everyday life. In this way you will cultivate a calm, quiet strength, and

win develop right perception and correct judgment. Do not be anxious to hurry matters. Do your duty

to the very uttermost ; live a disciplined and self-denying life ; conquer impulse, and guide your actions

by moral and spiritual Principles, as distinguished from your feelings, firmly believing that your object

will be, in its own time, completely accomplished.

Still go on becoming, and as you grow more perfect you will make fewer mistakes and will suffer less.

The diadem of the King of Truth is a righteous life, his sceptre is the sceptre of peace, and his throne is

in the hearts of mankind.

March Nineteenth.

IN every heart there are two kings, but one is a usurper and tyrant ; he is named self, and his thoughts

and deeds are those of lust, hatred, passion, and strife ; the other, the rightful monarch, is named Truth,

and his thoughts and deeds are those of purity and love, meekness and peace. Brother, sister, to what

monarch dost thou bow ? What king hast thou crowned in thy heart ? Well is it with thy soul if Thou

canst say : "I bow down to the Monarch of Truth ; in my inmost heart I have crowned the King of

Peace." Blessed indeed and immortal shall he be who shall find in the inward and heavenly places the

King of Righteousness, and shall bow his heart to Him.

Power resides in blamelessness of heart. All earthly things are symbols.

It is by the eradication of the inward errors and impurities alone that a knowledge of Truth can be

gained. There is no other way to wisdom and peace.

March Twentieth.

THE peace which passeth understanding is a peace which no event or circumstance can shake or mar,

because it is not merely a passing calm between two storms, but is an abiding peace that is born of

knowledge. Men have not this peace, because they do not understand, because they do not know, and

they do not understand and know because they are blinded and rendered ignorant by their own errors

and impurities ; and whilst they are unwilling to give these up, they cannot but remain entirely ignorant

of impersonal Principles.

Whilst a man loves his lusts he cannot love wisdom.

If we could suffer, even partly, through others, our sufferings would be unjust.

March Twenty-first.

ARE our sufferings and troubles entirely the result of our own ignorance and wrong-doing, or are they

partly or wholly brought about by others, and by outward conditions ?

Our sufferings are just, and are entirely the result of our own ignorance, error, and wrongdoing.

"Ye suffer from yourselves, none else compels." If this were not so, if a man could commit an evil deed

and escape, the consequences of that deed being visited upon an innocent person, then there would be

no Law of Justice, and without such a Law the universe could not, even for a single moment, exist. All

would be chaos. Upon the surface, men appear to suffer through others, but it is only an appearance an

appearance which a deeper knowledge dispels.

Man is not the result of outward conditions ; outward conditions are the result of man.

In the knowledge of truth there is freedom.

March Twenty-second.

MEN suffer because they love self, and do not love righteousness, and loving self they love their

delusions, and it is by these that they are bound. There is one supreme liberty of which no man can be

deprived by any but himself—the liberty to love and to practise righteousness.

This includes all other liberties. It belongs to the whipped and chained slave equally as to the king, and

he who will enter into this liberty will cast from him every chain. By this the slave will walk out from

the presence of his oppressor, who will be powerless to stay him. By this the king will cease to be

defiled by his surrounding luxuries, and will be a king indeed.

No outward oppressor can burden the righteous heart.

Joy is to the sinless !

March Twenty-third.

THE wise man knows. For him anxiety, fear, disappointment, and unrest have ceased, and under

whatever condition or circumstance he may be placed his calmness will not be broken, and he will bend

and adjust everything with capacity and wisdom. Nothing will cause him grief. When friends yield up

the body of flesh, he knows that they still are, and does not sorrow over the shell they have discarded.

None can injure him, for he has identified himself with that which is unaffected by change.

The knowledge which brings peace, then, is the knowledge of unchangeable Principles arrived at by the

practice of pure goodness, righteousness, becoming one with which a man becomes immortal,

unchangeable, indestructible.

Peace is to the pure.

Love, meekness, gentleness, self-accusation, forgive-

ness, patience, compassion, reproof—these are the works of the Spirit.

March Twenty-fourth.

THE flesh flatters ; the Spirit reproves. The flesh blindly gratifies; the

Spirit wisely disciplines.

The flesh loves secrecy; the Spirit is open and clear.

The flesh remembers the injury of a friend ; the Spirit forgives the bitterest enemy.

The flesh is noisy and rude ; the Spirit is silent and gracious.

The flesh is subject to moods ; the Spirit is always calm.

The flesh incites to impatience and anger; the Spirit controls with patience and serenity.

The flesh is thoughtless ; the Spirit is thoughtful.

Hatred, pride, harshness, accusing others, revenge, anger, cruelty, and flattery—these are the works of

the flesh.

You can only help others in so far as you have up-

lifted and purified yourself.

March Twenty-fifth.

A TRUTH is first perceived, and afterwards realised. The perception may be instantaneous, the

realisation is

almost invariably a process of gradual

unfoldment. You will have to learn to love, regarding yourself as a child ; and as you make progress in

learning, the Divine will unfold within you. You can only learn to love by constantly meditating upon

Love as a divine principle, and by adjusting, day by day, all your thought, and words, and acts to it.

Watch yourself closely, and when you think, or say, or do anything which is not born of pure unselfish

love, resolve that you will henceforth guard yourself in that direction. By so doing you will every day

grow purer, tenderer, holier, and soon you will find it easy to love, and will realise the Divine within

you.

When love is perfected and revealed in the heart, Christ is known.

Follow faithfully where the inward light leads you.

March Twenty-sixth.

IT is well to become conscious of your shortcomings, for, having realised them, and feeling the

necessity of overcoming them, you will, sooner or later, rise above them into the pure atmosphere of

duty and unselfish love. You should not picture dark things in the future, but if you think of the future

at all, think of it as bright. Above all, do your duty each day, and do it cheerfully and unselfishly, and

then each day will bring its own measure of joy and peace, and the future will hold much happiness for

you. The best way to overcome your faults is to perform all your duties faithfully, without thinking of

any gain to yourself, and to do all you can to make others happy ; speaking kindly to all, doing kind

things when you can, and not retaliating when others do or say unkind things.

Put your whole heart into the present, living it, minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day, self-

governed and pure.

The righteous man is invincible. No enemy can possibly overcome him.

March Twenty-seventh.

THE righteous man, having nothing to hide, committing no acts which require stealth, and harbouring

no thoughts and desires which he would not like others to know, is fearless and unashamed. His step is

firm, his body upright, and his speech direct, and without ambiguity. He looks everybody in the face.

How can he fear any, who wrongs none ? How can he be ashamed before any, who deceives none ?

And ceasing from all wrong, he can never be wronged ; ceasing from all deceit, he can never be

deceived. It is impossible for evil to overcome good, so the righteous man can never be brought low by

the unrighteous.

He cannot be afflicted by weariness and unrest whose heart is at peace with all.

It is better to love than to accuse and denounce.

March Twenty-eighth.

THERE is that outburst of passion which is called "righteous indignation," and it appears to be

righteous, but looked at from a higher conception of conduct it is seen to be not righteous. There is a

certain stamp of nobility about indignation at wrong or injustice, and it is certainly far higher and

nobler than indifference, but there is a loftier nobility still, by which it is seen that indignation is never

necessary, and where love and gentleness take its place, they overcome the wrong much more

effectually. A person that is apparently wronged requires our pity, but the one who wrongs requires still

more our compassion, for he is ignorantly laying up for himself a store of suffering : he must reap the

wrong he is sowing. When divine compassion is perceived in its fullness and beauty, indignation and all

forms of passion cease to exercise any influence over us.

If a man would do a noble thing, and does not do it he is not exalted thereby, but debased.

March Twenty-ninth.

THE term Goodness does not mean sickly

sentiment, but inward virtue, the

direct result of which is strength and

power ; therefore, the good man is not

weak, the weak man is not good.

We should not judge the souls of others in the spirit of condemnation ; but we can judge of our own life

and conduct by results. There is nothing more certain than this, the evil doer speedily proves that his

evil produces misery ; the good man demonstrates that his goodness results in happiness.

It is a fact that one may " flourish like a green bay tree " and yet be unrighteous, but we should also

remember that the bay tree at last perishes, or is cut down, and such is the fate of the unrighteous.

An exalted being apart from an exalted life is inconceivable and cannot be.

We know nothing higher than Goodness.

March Thirtieth.

THE Teachers of mankind are few. A thousand years may pass by without the advent of such a one ; but

when the true Teacher does appear, the distinguishing feature by which he is known is his life. His

conduct is different from other men, and his teaching is never derived from any man or book, but from

his own life. The Teacher first lives, and then teaches others how they may likewise live. The proof and

witness of his teaching is in himself, his life. Out of millions of preachers, one only is ultimately

accepted by mankind as the true Teacher, and the one who is thus accepted and exalted is he who lives.

The supreme aim of all religions is to teach men how to live.

Love is far beyond the reach of all selfish argument and can only be lived.

March Thirty-first.

JESUS gave to the world a code of rules, by the observance of which all men could become sons of

God, could live the Perfect Life. These rules or precepts are so simple, direct, and unmistakable that it

is impossible to misunderstand them. So plain and unequivocal are they that even an unlettered child

could grasp their meaning without difficulty. All of them are directly related to human conduct, and can

be applied only by the individual in his own life. To carry out the spirit of these rules in one‘s daily

conduct constitutes the whole duty of life, and lifts the individual into the full consciousness of his

divine origin and nature, of his oneness with God, the Supreme Good.

Men everywhere, in their inmost hearts, know that Goodness is divine.

A man has no character, no soul, no life, apart from his thoughts and deads.

April First.

EACH man is responsible for the thoughts which he thinks and the acts which he does, for his state of

mind, and the life which he lives. No power, no event, no circumstance, can compel a man to evil and

unhappiness. He himself is his own compeller. He thinks and acts by his own volition. No being,

however wise and great—not even the Supreme—can make him good and happy. He himself must

choose the good, and thereby find the happy.

This life of triumph is not for those who are satisfied with any lower conditions ; it is for those who

thirst for it and are willing to achieve it; who are as eager for righteousness as the miser is for gold. It is

always at hand, and is offered to all, and blessed are they who accept and embrace it ; they will enter

the world of Truth ; they will find the Perfect Peace.

There is a larger, higher, nobler, diviner life than that of sinning and suffering.

Man is ; and as he thinks, so he is.

April Second.

MAN‘S life is actual; his thoughts are actual; his deeds are actual. To occupy ourselves with the

investigation of things that are, is the way af wisdom. Man, considered as above, beyond, and separate

from, mind and thought, is speculative and not actual, and to occupy ourselves with the study of things

that are not, is the way of folly.

Man cannot be separated from his mind ; his life cannot be separated from his thoughts. Mind, thought,

and life are as inseparable as light, radiance, and colour. The facts are all-sufficient, and contain within

themselves the ground-work of all knowledge concerning them.

To live is to think and act, and to think and act is to Change.

Man as mind is subject to change. He is not something " made " and finally completed, but has within

him the capacity for progress.

April Third.

THE purification of the heart, the thinking of right thoughts, and the doing of good deeds—what are

they but calls to a higher, nobler mode of thought energising forces urging men to effort in the choosing

of thoughts which shall lift them into realms of greater power, greater good, greater bliss ?

Aspiration, meditation, devotion—these are the chief means which men in all ages employ to reach up

to higher modes of thought, wider airs of peace, vaster realms of knowledge, for as he thinketh in his

heart, so is he ; he is saved from himself—from his own folly and suffering by creating within, new

habits of thought; by becoming a new thinker, a new man.

Man’s being is modified by every thought he thinks. Every experience affects his character.

Only the choosing of wise thoughts, and, necessarily the doing of wise deeds, leads to wisdom.

April Fourth.

THE multitudes, unenlightened concerning their spiritual nature, are the slaves of thought, but the sage

is the master of thought. They follow blindly ; he chooses intelligently. They obey the impulse of the

moment, thinking of their immediate pleasure and happiness ; he commands and subdues impulse,

resting upon that which is permanently right. They, obeying blind impulse, violate the law of

righteousness ; he, conquering impulse, obeys the law of righteousness. The sage stands face to face

with the facts of life. He knows the nature of thought. He understands and obeys the law of his being.

Thought determines character, conditions, knowledge.

Law cannot be partial It is an unvarying mode of action, disobeying which, we are hurt; obeying, we

are made happy.

April Fifth.

IT is not less kind that we should suffer the penalty of our wrong-doing than that we should enjoy the

blessedness of our right-doing. If we could escape the effects of our ignorance and sin, all security

would be gone, and there would be no refuge, for we could then be equally deprived of the result of our

wisdom and goodness. Such a scheme would be one of caprice and cruelty, whereas law is a method of

justice and kindness.

Indeed, the supreme law is the principle of eternal kindness, faultless in working, and infinite in

application. It is none other than that

"Eternal Love, for ever full,

For ever flowing free,"

of which the Christian sings ; and the " Boundless Compassion " of Buddhistic precept and poetry.

Every pain we suffer brings us nearer to the knowledge of the Divine Wisdom.

Seers of the Cosmos do not mourn over the scheme of things.

April Sixth.

BUDDHA always referred to the moral law of the universe as the Good Law, and indeed it is not

rightly perceived if it is thought of as anything but good, for in it there can be no grain of evil, no

element of unkindness. It is no iron-hearted monster crushing the weak and destroying the ignorant, but

a soothing love and brooding compassion shielding the tenderest from harm, and protecting the

strongest from a too destructive use of their strength. It destroys an evil, it preserves an good. It enfolds

the tiniest seedling in its care, and it destroys the most colossal wrong with a breath. To perceive it, is

the beatific vision ; to know it, is the beatific bliss ; and they who perceive and know it are at peace ;

they are glad for ever more.

The wise man bends his will and subjects his desire to the Divine Order.

Rise above the allurements of sin, and enter the Divine Consciousness, the Transcendent Life.

April Seventh.

THERE comes a time in the process of transmutation when, with the decrease of evil and the

accumulation of good, there dawns in the mind a new vision, a new consciousness, a new man. And

when this is reached, the saint has become a sage ; he has passed from the human life to the divine life.

He is " born again " and there begins for him a new round of experiences ; he wields a new power; a

new universe opens out before his spiritual gaze. This is the stage of Transcendence ; this I call the

Transcendent Life. When Transcendence is attained, then the limited personality is outgrown, and the

divine life is known ; evil is transcended, and Good is all-in~all.

As passion is the keynote of the self-life, so serenity is the keynote of the transcendent life.

When Perfect Good is realised and known, then calm vision is acquired.

April Eighth.

THE transcendent life is ruled, not by passions, but by principles. It is founded, not upon fleeting

impulses, but upon abiding laws. In its clear atmosphere, the orderly sequence of al things is revealed,

so that there is seen to be no more room for sorrow, anxiety, or regret. While men are involved in the

passions of self, they load themselves with cares, and trouble over many things ; and more than all else

do they trouble over their own little, burdened, pain-stricken personality, being anxious for its fleeting

pleasures, for its protection and preservation, and for its eternal safety and continuance. Now in the life

that is wise and good all this is transcended. Personal interests are replaced by universal purposes, and

all cares, troubles, and anxieties concerning the pleasure and fate of the personality are dispelled like

the feverish dreams of a night.

Universal Good is seen.

Evil is an experience, and not a power

April Ninth.

IF it (evil) were an independent power in the universe, it could not be transcended by any being. But

though not real as a power, it is real as a condition, an experience, for all experience is of the nature of

reality. It is a state of ignorance, of undevelopment, and as such it recedes and disappears before the

light of knowledge, as the intellectual ignorance of the child vanishes before the gradually

accumulating learning, or as darkness dissolves before the rising light.

The painful experiences of evil pass away as the new experiences of good enter into and possess the

field of consciousness.

The trancendent man is he who is above and beyond the dominion of self; he has trancended evil.

Whatsoever happens to the good man cannot cause him perplexity or sorrow, for he knows its cause

and issue.

April Tenth.

IN looking back on the self-life which he has transcended, the divinely enlightened man sees that all

the afflictions of that life were his schoolmasters teaching him, and leading him upward, and that in the

measure that he penetrated their meaning, and lifted himself above them, they departed from him. Their

mission to teach him having ended, they left him triumphant master of the field; for the lower cannot

teach the higher; ignorance cannot instruct wisdom; evil cannot enlighten good; nor can the pupil set

lessons for the master. That which is transcended cannot reach up to that which trancends. Evil can

only teach in its own sphere, where it is regarded as a master; in the sphere of good it has no place, no

authority.

The strong traveller on the highroad of truth knows no such thing as resignation to evil; he knows only

obedience to good.

He is bravo who conquers another : but he who conquers himself is supremely noble.

April Eleventh.

BY the way of self-conquest is the Perfect Peace achieved. Man cannot understand it, cannot approach

it, until he sees the supreme necessity of turning away from the fierce fighting of things without, and

entering upon the noble warfare against evils within. He is already on the Saintly Way who has realised

that the enemy of the world is within, and not without ; that his own ungoverned thoughts are the

source of confusion and strife ; that his own unchastened desires are the violaters of his peace, and of

the peace of the world.

If a man has conquered lust and anger, hatred and pride, selfishness and greed, he has conquered the

world.

He who is victorious over another may in turn be defeated ; but he who overcomes himself will never

be subdued.

Force and strife work upon the passions and fears, but love and peace reach and reform the heart.

April twelfth.

HE who is overcome by force is not thereby overcome in his heart : he may be a greater enemy than

before ; but he who is overcome by the spirit of peace is thereby changed at heart. He that was an

enemy has become a friend.

The pure-hearted and wise have peace in their hearts ; it enters into their actions ; they apply it in their

lives. It is more powerful than strife ; it conquers where force would fail. Its wings shield the righteous.

Under its protection, the harmless are not harmed. It affords a secure shelter from the heat of selfish

struggle. It is a refuge for the defeated, a tent for the lost, and a temple for the pure.

When, divine good is practised, life is bliss. Bliss is the normal condition of the good man.

He who has realised the Love that is divine has become a new man.

April Thirteenth.

AND this Love, this Wisdom, this Peace, this tranquil state of mind and heart, may be attained to, may

be realised, by all who are willing and ready to and who are prepared to humbly enter into a

comprehension of all that the giving up of self involves. There is no arbitrary power in the universe,

and the strongest chains of fate by which men are bound are self-forged. Men are chained to that which

causes suffering because they desire to be so, because they love their chains, because they think their

little dark prison of self is sweet and beautiful, and they are afraid that if they desert that prison they

will lose all that is real and worth having.

" Ye suffer from yourselves, none else compels, None other holds ye that ye live and die."

To the divinely wise, knowledge and Love are one and inseparable.

The world does not understand the Love that is selfless because it is engrossed in the pursuit of its own

pleasures.

April fourteenth.

AS the shadow follows the form, and as smoke comes after fire, so effect follows cause, and suffering

and bliss follow the thoughts and deeds of men. There is no effect in the world around us but has its

hidden or revealed cause, and that cause is in accordance with absolute justice. Men reap a harvest of

suffering because in the near or distant past they have sown the seeds of evil ; they reap a harvest of

bliss also as a result of their own sowing of the seeds of good. Let a man meditate upon this, let him

strive to understand it, and he will then begin to sow only seeds of good, and will burn up the tares and

weeds which he has formerly grown in the garden of his heart.

It is toward the complete realisation of this divine Love that the whole world is moving.

He who purifies his own heart is the world’s greatest benefactor.

April Fifteenth.

THE world is, and will be for many years to come, shut out from that Golden Age which is the

realisation of selfless Love. You, if you are willing, may enter it now, by rising above your selfish self ;

if you will pass from prejudice, hatred, and condemnation to gentle and forgiving love.

Where hatred, dislike, and condemnation are, selfless Love does not abide. It resides only in the heart

that has ceased from all condemnation. He who knows that Love is at the heart of all things, and has

realised the all-sufficing power of that Love, has no room in his heart for condemnation.

Let men and women take this course, and lo! the Golden Age is at hand.

Only the pure in heart see God.

April Sixteenth.

HE whose heart is centred in the supreme Love does not brand and classify men ; does not seek to

convert men to his own views, nor to convince them of the superiority of his methods. Knowing the

Law of Love, he lives it, and maintains the same calm attitude of mind and sweetness of heart towards

all. The debased and the virtuous, the foolish and the wise, the learned and the unlearned, the selfish

and the unselfish, receive alike the benediction of his tranquil thought.

You can only attain to this supreme knowledge, this divine Love, by unremitting endeavour in self-

discipline, and by gaining victory after victory over yourself.

Enter into the New Birth, and the Love that does not die will be awakened within you, and you will be

at peace.

Where there is pure spiritual knowledge, Love is perfected and fully realised.

April Seventeenth.

TRAIN your mind in strong, impartial, and gentle thought ; train your heart in purity and compassion ;

train your tongue to silence and to true and stainless speech ; so shall you enter the way of holiness and

peace, and shall ultimately realise the immortal Love. So living, without seeking to convert, you will

convince ; without arguing, you will teach ; not cherishing ambition, the wise will find you out; and

without striving to gain men‘s opinions, you will subdue their hearts. For Love is all-conquering, all-

powerful ; and the thoughts, and deeds, and words of Love can never perish.

This is the realisation of selfless Love.

Rejoice! for the morning has dawned: The Truth has awakened us.

April Eighteenth.

WE have opened our eyes, and the dark night of terror is no more. Long have we slept in matter and

sensation; long did we struggle in the painful nightmare of evil; but now we are awake in Spirit and

Truth : We have found the Good, and the struggle with evil is ended.

We slept, yet knew not that we slept. We suffered, yet knew not that we suffered. We were troubled in

our dreaming, yet none could awake us, for all were dreaming like ourselves. Yet there came a pause in

our dreaming ; our sleep was stayed. Truth spoke to us, and we heard ; and lo ! we opened our eyes,

and saw. We slumbered, and saw not ; we slept, and knew not ; but now we are awake and see. Yea, we

know we are awake because we have seen Holiness, and we love sin no more.

How beautiful is Truth ! How glorious is the realm of reality ! How ineffable is the bliss of Holiness !

Abandon error for Truth, and illusion for Reality.

April Nineteenth.

TO sin is to dream, and. to love sin is to love darkness. They who love darkness are involved in the

darkness ; they have not yet seen the light. He who has seen the light does not choose to walk in

darkness. To see the Truth is to love it, and, in comparison, error has no beauty. The dreamer is now in

pleasure, now in pain; this hour in confidence, the next in fear. He is without stability, and has no

abiding refuge. When the monsters of remorse and retribution pursue him, whither can he fly ? There is

no place of safety unless he awake. Let the dreamer struggle with his dream ; let him strive to realise

the illusory nature of all self-seeking desire, and lo ! he will open his spiritual eyes upon the world of

Light and Truth. He will be happy, sane, and peaceful, seeing things as they are.

Truth is the Light of the universe, the day of the mind.

The Knowledge of Truth is an abiding consolation.

April Twentieth.

WHEN all else fails, Truth does not fail. When the heart is desolate and the world affords no shelter,

Truth provides a peaceful refuge and a quiet rest. The cares of life are many, and its path is beset with

difficulties ; but Truth is greater than care, and is superior to all difficulties. Truth lightens our burdens ;

it lights up our pathway with the radiance of joy. Loved ones pass away, friends fail, and possessions

disappear. Where then is the voice of comfort ? Where is the whisper of consolation ? Truth is the

comforter of the comfortless, and the consoler of them that are deserted. Truth does not pass away, nor

fail, nor disappear. Truth bestows the consolation of abiding peace. Be alert, and listen, that ye may

hear the call of Truth, even the voice of the Great Awakener.

Truth removes the sting from affliction, and disperses the clouds of trouble.

He who dings to his delusions, loving self and sin cannot find the Truth.

April Twenty-first.

TRUTH brings joy out of sorrow, and peace out of perturbation ; it points the selfish to the Way of

Good, and sinners to the Path of Holiness. Its spirit is the doing of Righteousness. To the earnest and

faithful it brings consolation ; upon the obedient it bestows the crown of peace. I take refuge in Truth :

Yea, in the Spirit of Good, in the knowledge of Good, and in the doing of Good I abide. And I am

reassured and comforted. It is to me as though malice were not, and hatred had vanished away. Lust is

confined to the nethermost darkness, it hath no way in Truth s transcendent Light. Pride is broken up

and dissolved, and vanity is melted away as a mist. I have set my face towards the Perfect Good, and

my feet in the Blameless Way ; and because of this I am consoled.

I am strengthened and comforted, having found refuge in Truth.

A pure heart and a blameless life avail. They are filled with joy and peace.

April Twenty-second.

OUR good deeds remain with us, they save and protect us. Evil deeds are error. Our evil deeds follow

us, they overthrow us in the hour of temptation. The evil doer is not protected from sorrow; but the

good doer is shielded from all harm. The fool says unto his evil deed, " Remain thou hidden, be thou

unexposed "—but his evil is already published, and his sorrow is sure. If we are in evil, what shall

protect us ? What keep us from misery and confusion ? Nor man nor woman, nor wealth nor power, nor

heaven nor earth, shall keep us from confusion. From the results of evil there is no escape ; no refuge

and no protection. If we are in Good, what shall overtake us ? What bring us to misery and confusion ?

Nor man nor woman, nor poverty nor sickness, nor heaven nor earth, shall bring us to confusion.

There is a straight way and a quiet rest.

Be glad and not sorrowful, all ye who love Truth! For your sorrows shall pass away, like the mists of

the morning.

April Twenty-third.

DISCIPLE : Teacher of teachers, instruct Thou me.

Master : Ask, and I will answer. Disciple : I have read much, but am ignorant still; I have studied the

doctrines of the schools, but have not become wise thereby ; I know the scriptures by heart, but peace

is hidden from me. Point out to me, O Master ! the way of knowledge. Reveal to me the highway of

divine wisdom ; lead Thou Thy child into the path of peace.

Master : The way of knowledge, O Disciple ! is by searching the heart; the highway of wisdom is by

the practice of righteousness ; and by a sinless life is found the way of peace.

Behold where Love Eternal rests concealed! (The deathless Love that seemed so far away!) E’en in the

lowly heart ; it stands revealed To him who lives the sinless life to-day.

Great is the conquest which thou hast entered upon, even the mighty conquest of thyself ; be faithful

and thou shalt overcome.

April Twenty-fourth.

DISCIPLE : Lead me, O Master! for my darkness is very great! Will the darkness lift, O Master? Will

trial end in victory, and will there be an end to my many sorrows ?

Master : When thy heart is pure the darkness will disappear. When thy mind is freed from passion, thou

wilt reach the end of trial, and when the thought of self-preservation is yielded up, there will be no

more cause for sorrow. Thou art now upon the way of discipline and purification ; all my disciples must

walk that way. Before thou canst enter the white light of knowledge, before thou canst behold the full

glory of Truth, all thy impurities must be purged away, thy delusions all dispelled, and thy mind

fortified with endurance. Relax not thy faith in Truth ; forget not that Truth is eternally supreme ;

remember that I, the Lord of Truth, am watching over thee.

Be faithful, and endure, and I will teach thee all things.

Blessed is he who obeys the Truth, he shall not remain comfortless.

April Twenty-fifth.

DISCIPLE : What are the greater and the lesser powers ?

Master : Hear me again, O Disciple ! Walking faithfully the path of discipline and purification, not

abandoning it, but submitting to its austerities, thou wilt acquire the three lesser powers of discipleship

; thou wilt also receive the three greater powers. And the greater and the lesser powers will render thee

invincible. Self-control, Self-reliance, and Watchfulness—these are the three lesser powers.

Steadfastness, Patience, Gentleness—these are the three greater powers. When thy mind is well-

controlled, and in thy keeping ; when thou reliest upon no external aid, but upon Truth alone ; and

when thou art ceaselessly watchful over thy thoughts and actions—then thou wilt approach the

Supreme Light.

Thy darkness will pass away for ever, and joy and light will wait upon thy footsteps.

Be strenuous in effort, patient in endurance, strong in resolution.

April Twenty-sixth.

BY these four things is the heart defiled— the craving for pleasure, the clinging to temporal things, the

love of self, the lust for personal continuance ; from these four defilements spring all sins and sorrows.

Wash thou thy heart ; put away sensual cravings ; detach thy mind from the wish for possessions ;

abandon self-defence and sell-importance. Thus putting away all cravings, thou wilt attain to

satisfaction ; detaching thy mind from the love of perishable things, thou wilt acquire wisdom ;

abandoning the thought of self, thou wilt come to peace. He who is pure is free from desire ; he does

not crave for sensual excitements ; he sets no value on perishable things ; he is the same in riches and

poverty, in success or failure, in victory or defeat, in life or death. His happiness remains, his rest is

sure.

Hold fast to love, and let it shape thy doing.

Instruct me in the doing which is according to the Eternal, so that I may be watchful, and fail not.

April Twenty-seventh.

THE unrighteous man is swayed by his feelings ; likes and dislikes are his

masters ; prejudices and partialities

blind him ; desiring and suffering, craving and sorrowing, self-control he knows not, and great is his

unrest. The righteous man is master of his moods ; likes and dislikes he has abandoned as childish

things; prejudice and partiality he has put away. Desiring nothing, he does not suffer ; not craving

enjoyment, sorrow does not overtake him ; perfect in self-control, great peace abides with him.

Do not condemn, resent, or retaliate ; do not argue, or become a partisan. Maintain thy calmness with

all sides ; be just, and speak the truth. Act in gentleness, compassion, and charity. Be infinitely patient.

Hold fast to love, and let it shape thy doing. Have goodwill to all without distinction. Think equally of

all, and be disturbed by none.

Be thoughtful and wise, strong and kindhearted.

Be watchful, that no thought of self creep in again and stain thee.

April Twenty-eighth.

THINK of thyself as abolished. In all thy doing think of the good of others and of the world, and not of

pleasure or reward to thyself. Thou art no longer separate and divided from men, thou art one with all.

No longer strive against others for thyself, but sympathise with all. Regard no man as thine enemy, for

thou art the friend of all men. Be at peace with all. Pour out compassion on all living things, and let

boundless charity adorn thy words and deeds. Such is the glad way of Truth ; such is the doing which is

according to the Eternal. ruled with joy is the right-doer ; he acts from principles which do not change

and pass away. He is one with the Eternal, and has passed beyond unrest. The peace of the righteous

man is perfect; it is not disturbed by change and impermanence. Freed from passion, he is equal-

minded, calm, and does not sorrow ; he sees things as they are, and is no more confused.

Open thine eyes to the Eternal Light.

Knowledge is for him who seeks ;

Wisdom crowneth him who strives ; Peace in sinless silence speaks : All things perish, Truth survives.

April Twenty-ninth.

INCREASE thy strength and self-reliance ; make The spectres of thy mind obey thy will ; See thou

command thyself, nor let no mood, No subtle passion nor no swift desire Hurl thee to baseness ; but,

shouldst thou be

hurled, Rise, and regain thy manhood, taking gain Of lowliness and wisdom from thy fall. Strive ever

for the mastery of thy mind, And glean some good from every circumstance That shall confront thee ;

make thy store of

strength Richer for ills encountered and o‘ercome. Submit to naught but nobleness ; rejoice Like a

strong athlete straining for the prize, When thy full strength is tried.

Follow where Virtue leads High and still higher ; Listen where Pureness pleads, Quench not her fire.

Lo ! he shall see Reality, Who cometh upward, cleansed from all desire.

Deliverance shall him entrance who strives with sifts and sorrows, tears and pains, Till he attains.

April Thirtieth.

BE not the slave

Of lusts and cravings and indulgences,

Of disappointments, miseries, and griefs,

Fears, doubts, and lamentations, but control

Thyself with calmness : master that in thee

Which masters others, and which heretofore

Has mastered thee : let not thy passions rule,

But rule thy passions ; subjugate thyself

Till passion is transmuted into peace,

And wisdom crown thee ; so shalt thou attain

And, by attaining, know.

Look thou within. Lo ! In the midst of change

Abides the Changeless ; at the heart of strife

The Perfect Peace reposes. At the root

Of all the restless striving of the world

Is passion. Whoso follows passion findeth pain,

But whoso conquers passion findeth peace.

I am ignorant, yet strive to know ; nor will I cease to strive till I attain.

Comfort ye ! The heights of Blessed Vision ye shall reach.

May First.

EOLAUS : I know that sorrow follows passion; know

That grief and emptiness, and heartaches wait

Upon all earthly joys ; so am I sad ;

Yet Truth must be, and being, can be found ;

And though I am in sorrow, this I know—

I shall be glad when I have found the Truth.

Prophet : There is no gladness like the joy of Truth.

The pure in heart swim in a sea of bliss

That evermore nor sorrow knows, nor pain ;

For who can see the Cosmos and be sad ?

To know is to be happy ; they rejoice

Who have attained Perfection ; these are they

Who live, and know, and realise the Truth.

He findeth Truth who findeth self-control.

Not in any of the three worlds can the soul find lasting satisfaction, apart from the realisation of

righteousness.

May Second.

EVERY soul, consciously or unconsciously, hungers for righteousness, and every soul seeks to gratify

that hunger in its own particular way, and in accordance with its own particular state of knowledge. The

hunger is one, and the righteousness is one, but the pathways by which righteousness is sought are

many. They who seek consciously are blessed, and shall shortly find that final and permanent

satisfaction of soul which righteousness alone can give, for they have come into a knowledge of the

true path. They who seek unconsciously, although for a time they may bathe in a sea of pleasure, are

not blessed, for they are carving out for themselves pathways of suffering, over which they must walk

with torn and wounded feet, and the soul will cry out for its lost heritage— the eternal heritage of the

righteous.

Blessed are they who earnestly and intelligently seek.

Glorious, radiant, free, detached from the tyranny of self !

May Third.

THE journey to the Kingdom may be a long and tedious one, or it maybe short and rapid. It may

occupy a minute, or it may take a thousand ages. Everything depends on the faith and belief of the

searcher. The majority cannot " enter in because of their unbelief " ; for how can men realise

righteousness when they do not believe in it, nor in the possibility of its accomplishment ? Neither is it

necessary to leave the outer world, and one s duties therein. Nay, it can only be found through the

unselfish performance of one‘s duty. But all who believe, and aspire to achieve, will sooner or later

arrive at victory, if, amid all their worldly duties, they faint not, nor lose sight of the Ideal Goodness,

and continue, with unshaken resolve, to press on to Perfection."

The outward life harmonises itself with the inward music.

The regulation and purification of conduct.

May Fourth.

THE whole journey from the Kingdom of Strife to the Kingdom of Love resolves itself into a process

which may be summed up in the following words:—The regulation and purification of conduct. Such a

process must, if assiduously pursued, necessarily lead to perfection. It will also be seen that as the man

obtains the mastery over certain forces within himself, he arrives at a knowledge of all the laws which

operate in the realm of all these forces, and by watching the ceaseless working of cause and effect

within himself, until he understands it, he then understands it in its universal adjustments in the body of

humanity.

The process is also one of simplification of the mind, a sifting away of all but the essential gold in

character.

He lives no longer for himself, he lives for others : and so living, he enjoys the highest bliss, the deepest

peace.

Apart from the earnest striving lo live out the teachings of Jesus there can be no true life.

May Fifth.

A GOOD man is the flower of humanity, and to daily grow purer, nobler, more Godlike, by overcoming

some selfish tendency, is to be continually drawing nearer to the Divine Heart. " He that would be My

disciple, let him deny himself daily," is a statement which none can misunderstand or misapply,

howsoever he may ignore it. Nowhere in the universe is there any substitute for Goodness ; and until a

man has this, he has nothing worthy or enduring. To the possession of Goodness there is only one way,

and that is, to give up all and everything that is opposed to Goodness. Every selfish desire must be

eradicated; every impure thought must be yielded up ; every clinging to opinion must be sacrificed; and

it is in the doing of this that constitutes the following of Christ.

That which is above all creeds, beliefs, and opinions is a loving and self-sacrificing heart.

To dwell in love always and towards all is to live the true life, is to have Life itself.

May Sixth.

JESUS so lived, and all men may so live, if they will humbly and faithfully carry out His precepts. So

long as they refuse to do this, clinging to their desires, passions, and opinions, they cannot be ranked as

His disciples ; they are the disciples of self. " Verily, verily, I say unto you : whosoever committeth sin

is the servant of sin," is the searching declaration of Jesus. Let men cease to delude themselves with the

belief that they can retain their bad tempers, their lusts, their harsh words and judgments, their personal

hatreds, their petty contentions and darling opinions, and yet have Christ. All that divides man from

man, and man from Goodness, is not of Christ, for Christ is Love.

Sin and Christ cannot dwell together, and he who accepts the Christ-life of pure Goodness ceases from

sin.

When Christ is disputed about, Christ is lost.

May Seventh.

IT is no less selfish and sinful to cling to opinion than to cling to impure desire. knowing this, the good

man gives up himself unreservedly to the Spirit of Love, and dwells in Love towards all, contending

with none, condemning none, hating none, but loving all, seeing behind their opinions, their creeds, and

their sins, into their striving, suffering, and sorrowing hearts. " He that loveth his life shall lose it."

Eternal life belongs to him who win obediently relinquish his petty, narrowing, sin-loving, strife-

producing personal self, for only by so doing can he enter into the large, beautiful, free, and glorious

life of abounding Love. Herein is the Path of Life ; for the Straight Gate is the Gate of Goodness.

The narrow way is the Way of Renunciation, or self- sacrifice.

A man can learn nothing unless he regards himself as a learner.

May Eighth.

HOW am I acting towards others?

" What am I doing for others ? "

" How am I thinking of others ? "

" Are my thoughts of, and acts towards others, prompted by unselfish love, as I would theirs should be

to me ; or are they the outcome of personal dislike, of petty revenge, or of narrow bigotry and

condemnation ? " as a man, in the sacred silence of his soul, asks himself these searching questions,

applying all his thoughts and acts to the spirit of the primary precept of the Christ, his understanding

will become illuminated, so that he will unerringly see where he has hitherto failed ; and he will see

what he has got to do in rectifying his heart and conduct, and the way in which it is to be done.

Evil is not worth resisting. The practice of the good is supremely excellent.

Personal antipathies, however natural they may be to the animal man, can have no place in the divine

life.

May Ninth.

WHILST a man is engaged in resisting evil, he is not only not practising the good, he is actually

involved in the like passion and prejudice which he condemns in another ; and as a direct result of his

attitude of mind, he himself is resisted by others as evil. Resist a man, a party, a religion, a government,

as evil, and you yourself will be resisted as evil. He who considers it as a great evil that he should be

persecuted and condemned, let him cease to persecute and condemn. Let him turn away from all that he

has hitherto regarded as evil, and begin to look for the good. So deep and far-reaching is this precept

that the practice of it will fake a man far up the heights of spiritual knowledge and attainment.

He who will keep the precepts of Jesus will conquer himself, and will become divinely illuminated.

Humanity is essentially divine.

May Tenth.

SO long has man dwelt in the habitations of sin that he has at last come to regard himself as native to it,

and as being cut off from the Divine Source, which he believes to be outside and away from him. Man

is primarily a spiritual being, and as such, is of the nature and substance of the Eternal Spirit, the

Unchangeable Reality, which men call God. Goodness, not sin, is his rightful condition ; perfection, not

imperfection, is his heritage, and this a man may enter into and realise now if he will grant the

condition, which is the denial or abandonment of self, that is, of his feverish desires, his proud will, his

egotism and self-seeking—all that which St. Paul calls the " natural man."

Jesus, in His divine goodness, knew the human heart, and He knew that it was good.

He who would find how good at heart men are, let hint throw away all his ideas and suspicions about

the " evil " in others, and find and practise the good within himself.

May Eleventh.

MAN has within him the divine power by which he can rise to the highest heights of spiritual

achievement; by which he can shake off sin and shame and sorrow, and do the will of the Father, the

Supreme Good ; by which he can conquer all the powers of darkness within, and stand radiant and free

; by which he can subdue the world, and scale the lofty pinnacles of God. This can man, by choice, by

resolve, and by his divine strength, accomplish ; but he can only accomplish it in and by obedience ; he

must choose meekness and lowliness of heart ; he must abandon strife for peace ; passion for purity ;

hatred for love ; self-seeking for self-sacrifice, and must overcome evil with good.

This is the holy way of Truth ; this is the safe and abiding salvation ; this is the yoke and burden of the

Christ.

The Gospel of Jesus is a Gospel of living and doing.

May Twelfth.

THAT Jesus was meek, and lowly, and loving, and compassionate, and pure is very beautiful, but it is

not sufficient; it is necessary that you also should be meek, and lowly, and loving, and compassionate,

and pure. That Jesus subordinated His own will to the will of the Father, it is inspiring to know, but it is

not sufficient ; it is necessary that you, too, should likewise subordinate your will to that of the

overruling Good. The grace and beauty and goodness that were in Jesus can be of no value to you,

cannot be understood by you, unless they are also in you, and they can never be in you until you

practice them, for, apart from doing, the qualities which constitute Goodness do not, as far as you are

concerned, exist.

Pure Goodness is religion, and outside it there is no religion.

They are the doers of the Father’s will who shape their conduct to the Divine precepts.

May Thirteenth.

TO us and to all there is no sufficiency, no blessedness, no peace to be derived from the goodness of

another, not even the goodness of God ; not until the goodness is done by us, not until it is, by constant

effort, incorporated into our being, can we know and possess its blessedness and peace. Therefore, thou

who adorest Jesus for His divine qualities, practise those qualities thyself, and thou too shalt be divine.

The teaching of Jesus brings men back to the simple truth that righteousness, or right-doing, is entirely

a matter of individual conduct, and not a mystical something apart from a man‘s thoughts and actions,

and that each must be righteous for himself ; each must be a doer of the word, and it is a man‘s own

doing that brings him peace and gladness of heart, not the doing of another.

It is only the doer of forgiveness who tastes the sweets of forgiveness.

The Christ is the Spirit of Love.

May Fourteenth.

WHEN Jesus said, " Without Me ye can I do nothing," He spoke not of His perishable form, but of the

Universal Spirit of Love, of which His conduct was a perfect manifestation ; and this utterance of His is

the statement of a simple truth ; for the works of men are vain and worthless when they are done for

personal ends, and he himself remains a perishable being, immersed in darkness and fearing death, so

long as he lives in his personal gratifications. The animal in man can never respond to and know the

divine ; only the divine can respond to the divine. The spirit of hatred in man can never vibrate in

unison with the Spirit of Love ; Love only can apprehend Love, and become linked with it. Man is

divine ; man is of the substance of Love ; this he may realise if he will relinquish the impure, personal

elements which he has hitherto been blindly following, and will fly to the impersonal Realities of the

Christ

Spirit.

In this Principle of Love, all knowledge, Intelligence, and Wisdom are contained.

Love is not complete until it is lived by man.

May Fifteenth.

EVERY precept of Jesus demands the unconditional sacrifice of some selfish, personal element, before

it can be carried out. Man cannot know the Real whilst he clings to the unreal ; he cannot do the work

of Truth whilst he clings to error. Whilst a man cherishes lust, hatred, pride, vanity, sell-indulgence,

covetousness, he can do nothing, for the works of all these sinful elements are unreal and perishable.

Only when he takes refuge in the Spirit of Love within, and becomes patient, gentle, pure, pitiful, and

forgiving, does he the works of Righteousness, and bears the fruits of Life. The vine is not a vine

without its branches, and even then it is not complete until those branches bear fruit.

Daily practising love towards all in heart and mind and deed, harbouring no injurious or impure

thoughts, he discovers the imperishable Principles of his being.

Man’s only refuge from sin is sinless Love.

Before a man can know Love as the abiding Reality within him, he must utterly abandon all those

human tendencies which frustrate us perfect manifestation.

May Sixteenth.

A MAN can only consciously ally himself to the Vine of Love by deserting all stife, and hatred, and

condemnation, and impurity, and pride, and self-seeking, and by thinking and doing loving deeds. By

so doing he awakens within him the divine nature which he has heretofore been crucifying and

denying. Every time a man gives way to anger, impatience, greed, pride, vanity, or any form of

personal selfishness, he denies the Christ, he shuts himself out from Love. And thus only is Christ

denied, and not by refusing to adopt a formulated creed. Christ is only known to him who by constant

striving has converted himself from a sinful to a pure being, who by noble, moral effort has succeeded

in relinquishing that perishable self, which is the source of all suffering and sorrow and unrest, and has

become rational, gentle, peaceful, loving, and pure.

Such glorious realisation is the crown of evolution, the supreme aim of existence.

As self is the root cause of all strife and suffering, so Love is the root cause of all peace and bliss.

May Seventeenth.

THOSE who are at rest in the Kingdom do not look for happiness in any outward possession. They see

that all such possessions are mere transient effects that come when they are required, and, after their

purpose is served, pass away. They never think of these things (money, clothing, food, etc.) except as

mere accessories and effects of the true Life. They are, therefore, freed from all anxiety and trouble,

and, resting in Love, they are the embodiment of Happiness. Standing upon the imperishable Principles

of Purity, Compassion, Wisdom, and Love, they are immortal, and know they are immortal ; they are

one with God, the Supreme Good, and know they are one with God. Seeing the realities of things, they

can find no room anywhere for condemnation.

All men are essentially divine, though unaware of their divine nature.

All so-called evil is seen to be rooted in ignorance.

May Eighteenth.

LET it not be supposed that the children of the Kingdom live in ease and indolence (these two sins are

the first that have to be eradicated when the search for the Kingdom is entered upon) ; they live in a

peaceful activity ; in fact, they only truly live, for the life of self, with its train of worries, griefs, and

fears, is not real life. They perform all their duties with the most scrupulous diligence, apart from

thoughts of self, and employ all their means, as well as powers and faculties, which are greatly

intensified, in building up the Kingdom of Righteousness in the hearts of others, and in the world

around them. This is their work, first by example, then by precept. They sorrow no more, but live in

perpetual gladness, for, though they see the suffering in the world, they also see the final Bliss and the

Eternal Refuge.

Whosoever is ready may come now.

Heaven is not a speculative thing beyond the tomb but a real, ever-present Heaven in the heart.

May Nineteenth.

THE only salvation recognised and taught by Jesus is salvation from sin, and the effects of sin, here

and now ; and this must be effected by utterly abandoning sin, which, having done, the Kingdom of

God is realised in the heart as a state of perfect knowledge, perfect blessedness, perfect peace.

" Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." A man must become a new

creature, and how can he become new except by utterly abandoning the old ? That man‘s last state is

worse than his first who imagines that, though still continuing to cling to his old temper, his old

opinionativeness, his old vanity, his old selfishness, he is constituted a new creature in some mysterious

and unexplainable way by the adoption of some particular theology or religious formula.

Heaven is where Love rules, and where peace is never absent.

To the faithful, humble, and true will be revealed the sublime Vision of the Perfect One.

May Twentieth.

GOOD news indeed is that message of Jesus which reveals to man His divine possibilities; which says

in substance to sin-stricken humanity, "Take up thy bed and walk ; which tells man that he need no

longer remain the creature of darkness and ignorance and sin, if he will but believe in Goodness, and

will watch and strive and conquer until he has actualised in his life the Goodness that is sinless. And in

thus believing and overcoming, man has not only the guide of that Perfect Rule which Jesus has

embodied in His precepts, he has also the inward Guide, the Spirit of Truth in his own heart, " The

Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world," which, as he follows it, will infallibly

witness to the divine origin of those precepts.

Realise the perfect Goodness of the Eternal Christ.

The Kingdom of Heaven is perfect trust, perfect knowledge, perfect peace.

May Twenty-first.

THE children of the Kingdom are known by their life. They manliest the fruits of the Spirit—" love,

joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance, self-control "—

under all circumstances and vicissitudes. They are entirely free from anger, fear, suspicion, jealousy,

caprice, anxiety, and grief. Living in the Righteousness of God, they manifest qualities which are the

very reverse of those which obtain in the world, and which are regarded by the world as foolish. They

demand no rights ; they do not defend themselves ; do not retaliate ; do good to those who attempt to

injure them ; manifest the same gentle spirit towards those who oppose and attack them, as towards

those who agree with them ; do not pass judgment on others ; condemn no man and no system, and live

at peace with all.

That Kingdom is in the heart of every man and woman.

Find the Kingdom by daily effort and patient work.

May Twenty-second.

THE Temple of Righteousness is built, and its four walls are the four Principles—Purity, Wisdom,

Compassion, Love. Peace is its roof, its floor is Steadfastness, its entrance door is Selfless Duty, its

atmosphere is Inspiration, and its music is the Joy of the perfect. It cannot be shaken, and, being eternal

and indestructible, there is no more need to seek protection in taking thought for the things of the

morrow. And the Kingdom of Heaven being established in the heart, the obtaining of the material

necessities of life is no more considered, for, having found the Highest, all these things are added as

effect to cause, the struggle for existence has ceased, and the spiritual, mental, and material needs are

daily supplied from the Universal Abundance.

Pay the price . . . the unconditional abandonment of self.

All things are possible now, and only now.

May Twenty-third.

NOW is the reality in which time is contained. It is more and greater than time; it is an ever-present

reality. It knows neither past nor future, and is eternally potent and substantial. livery minute, every

day, every year is a dream as soon as it has passed, and exists only as an imperfect and unsubstantial

picture in the memory, if it be not entirely obliterated.

Past and future are dreams ; now is a reality. All things are now; all power, all possibility, all action is

now. Not to act and accomplish now is not to act and accomplish at all. To live in thoughts of what you

might have done, or in dreams of what you mean to do, this is folly; but to put away regret, to anchor

anticipation, and to do and to work now, this is wisdom.

Man has all power now.

Cease to tread every byway that tempts thy soul into the shadow-land.

May Twenty-fourth.

MAN has all power now ; but not knowing this, he says, " I will be perfect next year, or, in so many

years, or in so many lives." The dwellers in the Kingdom of God, who live only in the now, say, I am

perfect now, and refraining from all sin now, and ceaselessly guarding all the portals of the mind, not

looking to the past nor to the future, nor turning to the left or right, they remain eternally holy and

blessed. " Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." Say to yourself, " I will live in my

Ideal now ; I will be my Ideal now ; and all that tempts me away from my Ideal I will not listen to ; I

will listen only to the voice of my Ideal." Thus resolving, and thus doing, you shall not depart from the

Highest, and shall eternally manifest the Truth.

Manifest thy native and divine strength now.

Be resolute. Be of single purpose. Renew your resolution daily.

May Twenty-fifth.

IN the hour of temptation do not depart from the right path. Avoid excitement. When passions are

aroused, restrain and subdue them. When the mind would wander, bring it back to rest on higher things.

Do not think—" I can get Truth from the Teacher, or from the books." You can acquire Truth only by

practice. The teacher and the books can do no more than give instructions ; and you must apply them.

Those only who practise faithfully the rules and lessons given, and rely entirely upon their own efforts,

will become enlightened. The Truth must be earned. Do not be led away by phenomenal appearances,

or seek communications with spirits, or the dead ; but attain to virtue, wisdom, and knowledge of the

Supreme Law by the practice of Truth. Trust the Teacher ; trust the Law ; trust the path of

Righteousness.

Put away all wavering and doubt, and practise the lessons of wisdom with unlimited faith.

Avoid exaggerations. The Truth is sufficient.

May Twenty-sixth.

SPEAK only words which are truthful and sincere. Do not deceive either by word, look, or gesture.

Avoid slander as you would a deadly snake, lest you be caught in its toils. He who speaks evil of

another cannot find the way of peace. Put away all dissipations of idle gossip. Do not talk about the

private affairs of others, or discuss the ways of Society, or criticise the eminent. Do not recriminate, or

accuse others of offences, but meet all offences with blameless conduct. Do not condemn those who are

not walking in the righteous path, but protect them with compassion, walking the path yourself. Quench

the flame of anger with the pure water of Truth. Be modest in your words, and do not utter, or

participate in, coarse, frivolous, or unseemly jests. Gravity and reverence are marks of purity and

wisdom.

Do not dispute about Truth, but live it.

Abstinence, sobriety, and self-control are good.

May Twenty-seventh.

DO your duty with the utmost faithfulness, putting away an thought of reward. Let no thought of

pleasure

or self entice you from your duty. Do not interfere with the duties of others. Be upright in all things.

Under the most severe trial, though your happiness and life should seem to be at stake, do not swerve

from the right. The man of unconquerable integrity is invincible ; he cannot be confounded, and he

escapes from the painful mazes of doubt and bewilderment. If one should abuse or accuse, or speak ill

of you, remain silent and self-controlled, striving to understand that the wrong-doer cannot injure you

unless you retaliate, and allow yourself to be carried away by the same wrong condition of mind.

Strive, also, to meet the evil-doer with compassion, seeing how he is injuring himself.

The pure-minded cannot think, " I have been injured by another." They know no enemy but self.

Let your charity increase and extend till self is swallowed up in kindness.

May Twenty-eighth.

BEAR no ill-will. Subdue anger and overcome hatred. Think of all, and act towards all, with the same

unalterable kindness and compassion. Do not, under the severest trial, give way to bitterness, or words

of resentment ; but meet anger with calmness, mockery with patience, and hatred with love. Do not be

a partisan, but be a peacemaker. Do not increase division between man and man, or promote strife by

taking sides with one party against another, but give equal justice, equal love, equal goodwill to all. Do

not disparage other teachers, other religions, or other schools of thought. Do not set up barriers between

rich and poor, employer and employed, governor and governed, master and servant, but be equal-

minded towards all, perceiving their several duties. By constantly controlling the mind, subduing

bitterness and resentment, and striving to acquire a steadfast kindness, the spirit of goodwill will at last

be born.

Be strong, energetic, steadfast.

Be right-minded, intelligent, and clear-seeing.

May Twenty-ninth.

BRING reason to bear on all things. Test all things. Be eager to know and understand. Be logical in

thought. Be consistent in word and action. Bring the searchlight of knowledge to bear on your

condition of mind, in order to simplify it and remove its errors. Question yourself with searching

scrutiny. Let go of belief, hearsay, and speculation, and lay hold on knowledge. He who stands upon

knowledge acquired by practice is filled with a sublime yet lowly confidence, and is able to speak the

word of Truth with power. Master the task of discrimination. Learn to distinguish between good and

evil ; to perceive the facts of life, and understand them in their relation one to another. Awake the mind

to see the orderly sequence of cause and effect in all things, both mental and material. Thus will be

revealed the worthlessness of pleasure-seeking and sin, and the glory and gladness of a life of sublime

virtue and spotless purity.

Truth is. There is no chaos.

Train your mind to grasp the Great Law of Causation which is unfailing justice.

May Thirtieth.

THEN you will see, not with fleshly eyes, but with the pure and single eye of Truth. You will then

understand your nature perceiving how, as a mental being, you have evolved through countless ages of

experience, how you have risen, through an unbroken line of lives, from low to high, and from high to

higher still—how the ever-changing tendencies of the mind have been built up by thought and action—

how your deeds have made you what you are. Thus, understanding your own nature, you will

understand the nature of all beings, and will dwell always in compassion. You will understand the Great

Law, not only universally and in the abstract, but also in its particular application to individuals. Then

self will be ended. It will be dispersed like a cloud, and Truth will be all in all.

Find no room for hatred, no room for self, no room for sorrow.

Be self-reliant, but let thy self-reliance be saintly and not selfish.

May Thirty-first.

FOLLY and wisdom, weakness and strength, are within a man, and not in any external thing, neither do

they spring from any external cause. A man cannot be strong for another, he can only be strong for

himself ; he cannot overcome for another, he can only overcome for himself. You may learn of another,

but you must accomplish for yourself. Put away all external props, and rely upon the Truth within you.

A creed will not bear a man up in the hour of temptation; he must possess the inward Knowledge which

slays temptation. A speculative philosophy will prove a shadowy thing in the time of calamity ; a man

must have the inward Wisdom which puts an end to grief. The Unfailing Wisdom is found only by

constant practice in pure thinking and well-doing ; by harmonising one s mind and heart to those things

which are beautiful, lovable, and true.

Goodness is the aim of all religions.

The incentive to self-sacrificing labour does not reside in any theory about the universe, but in the

spirit of love and compassion.

June First.

THE spirit of love does not decrease when a man realises that perfect justice obtains in the spiritual

government of the world ; on the other hand, it is increased and intensified, for he knows that men

suiter because they do not understand, because they err in ignorance. " The comfortably conditioned "

are frequently involved in greater suffering than the poor, and, like others, are garnering their own

mixed harvest of happiness and suffering. This teaching of Absolute Justice is not more encouraging

for the rich than for the poor, for while it tells the rich, who are selfish and oppressive, or who misuse

their wealth, that they must reap the results of all their actions, it also tells the suffering and oppressed

that, as they are now reaping what they have formerly sown, they may, and surely will, by sowing the

good seeds of purity, love, and peace, shortly also reap a harvest of good, and so rise above their

present woes.

The painful consequences of all self-seeking must be met and passed through.

Man is the maker of happiness and misery.

June Second.

FIXED attitudes of mind determine courses of conduct, and from courses of conduct come those

reactions caned happinesses and unhappinesses. This being so, it follows that, to alter the reactive

condition, one must alter the active thought. To exchange misery for happiness it is necessary to reverse

the fixed attitude of mind and habitual course of conduct which is the cause of misery, and the reverse

effect will appear in the mind and life. A man has no power to be happy while thinking and acting

selfishly ; he cannot be unhappy while thinking and acting unselfishly. Wheresoever the cause is, there

the effect will appear. Man cannot abrogate effects, but he can alter causes. He can purify his nature; he

can remould his character. There is great power in self-conquest ; there is great joy in transforming

oneself.

Each man is circumscribed by his own thoughts.

Men live in spheres low or high according to the nature of their thoughts.

June Third.

CONSIDER the man whose mind is suspicious, covetous, envious. How small and mean and drear

everything appears to him. Having no grandeur in himself, he sees no grandeur anywhere, being

ignoble himself, he is incapable of seeing nobility in any being ; selfish as he himself is, he sees in the

most exalted acts of unselfishness only motives that are mean and base.

Consider again the man whose mind is unsuspecting, generous, magnanimous. How wondrous and

beautiful is his world. He sees men as true, and to him they are true. In his presence the meanest forget

their nature, and for the moment become like himself, getting a glimpse, albeit confused, in that

temporary upliftment of a higher order of things, of an immeasurably nobler and happier life.

Refrain from harbouring thoughts that are dark and hateful, and cherish thoughts that are bright and

beautiful.

The small-minded man and the large-hearted man live in two different worlds though they be

neighbours.

June Fourth.

THE kingdom of heaven is not taken by I violence, but he who conforms to its principles receives the

password. The ruffian moves in a society of ruffians; the saint is one of an elect brotherhood whose

communion is divine music. All men are mirrors reflecting according to their own surface. All men,

looking at the world of men and things, are looking into a mirror which gives back their own reflection.

Each man moves in the limited or expansive circle of his own thoughts, and all outside that circle is

non-existent to him. He only knows that which he has become. The narrower the boundary, the more

convinced is the man that there is no further limit, no other circle. The lesser cannot contain the greater,

and he has no means of apprehending the larger minds ; such knowledge comes only by growth.

Men, like schoolboys, find themselves in standards or classes to which their ignorance or knowledge

entitles them.

The world of things is the other half of the world of thoughts.

June Fifth.

THE inner informs the outer. The greater embraces the lesser. Matter is the counterpart of mind. Events

are streams of thoughts. Circumstances are combinations of thought, and the outer conditions and

actions of others in which each man is involved, are intimately related to his own mental needs and

development. Man is a part of his surroundings. He is not separate from his fellows, but is bound

closely to them by the peculiar intimacy and interaction of deeds, and by those fundamental laws of

thought which are the roots of human society.

One cannot alter external things to suit his passing whims and wishes, but he can set aside his whims

and wishes ; he can so alter his attitude of mind towards externals, that they will assume a different

aspect. He cannot mould the actions of others towards him, but he can rightly fashion his actions

towards them.

Things follow thoughts. Alter your thoughts, and things will receive a new adjustment.

The perfecting of one’s own deeds is man’s highest duty and most sublime accomplishment.

June Sixth.

THE cause of your bondage as of your deliverance is within. The injury that comes to you through

others is the rebound of your own deed, the reflex of your own mental attitude. They are the

instruments, you are the cause. Destiny is ripened fruits. The fruit of life, both bitter and sweet, is

received by each man in just measure. The righteous man is free. None can injure him ; none can

destroy him ; none can rob him of his peace. His attitude towards men, born of understanding, disarms

their power to wound him. Any injury which they may try to inflict rebounds upon themselves to their

own hurt, leaving him unharmed and untouched. The good that goes from him is his perennial fount of

happiness, his eternal source of strength. Its root is serenity, its flower is joy.

External things and deeds are powerless to injure you.

The man is the all-important factor.

June Seventh.

A MAN imagines lie could do great things if he were not hampered by circumstances—by want of

money, want of time, want of influence, and want of freedom from family ties. In reality the man is not

hindered by these things at all. He, in his mind, ascribes to them a power which they do not possess,

and he submits, not to them, but to his opinions about them, that is, to a weak element in his nature.

The real "want" that hampers him is the want of the right attitude of mind. When he regards his

circumstances as spurs to his resources, when he sees that his so-called drawbacks are the very steps up

which he is to mount successfully to his achievement, then his necessity gives birth to invention, and

the " hindrances " are transformed into aids.

He who complains of his circumstances has not yet become a man.

Nothing can prevent us from accomplishing the aims of our life.

June Eighth.

MAN‘S power subsists in discrimination and choice Man does not create one jot of the universal

conditions or laws ; they are the essential principles of things, and are neither made nor unmade. He

discovers, not makes, them. Ignorance of them is at the root of the world s pain. To defy them is folly

and bondage. Who is the freer man, the thief who denes the laws of his country, or the honest citizen

who obeys them ? Who, again, is the freer man, the fool who thinks he can live as he likes, or the wise

man who chooses to do only that which is right ?

Man is, in the nature of things, a being of habit, and this he cannot alter ; but he can alter his habits. He

cannot alter the law of his nature, but he can adapt his nature to the law.

He is the good man whose habits of thought and action are good.

He becomes the master of the lower by enlisting in the service of the higher.

June Ninth.

MAN repeats the same thoughts, the same actions, the same experiences over and over again, until they

are incorporated with his being, until they are built into his character as part of himself. Evolution is

mental accumulation. Man to-day is the result of millions of repetitious thoughts and acts. He is not

ready-made, he becomes, and is still becoming. His character is pre-determined by his own choice. The

thought, the act, which he chooses, that, by habit, he becomes.

Thus each man is an accumulation of thoughts and deeds. The characteristics which he manifests

instinctively and without effort are lines of thought and action become, by long repetition, automatic ;

for it is the nature of habit to become, at last, unconscious, to repeat, as it were, itself without any

apparent choice or effort on the part of its possessor ; and in due time it takes such complete possession

of the individual as to appear to render his will powerless to counteract it.

Habit is repetition. Faculty is fixed habit.

By thoughts man binds himself.

June Tenth.

IT is true that man is the instrument of mental forces—or to be more accurate, he is those forces—but

they are not blind, and he can direct them into new channels. In a word, he can take himself in hand and

reconstruct his habits ; for though it is also true that he is born with a given character, that character is

the product of numberless lives during which it has been slowly built up by choice and effort, and in

this life it will be considerably modified by new experiences.

No matter how apparently helpless a man has become under the tyranny of a bad habit, or a bad

characteristic—and they are essentially the same—he can, so long as sanity remains, break away from

it and become free.

A changed attitude of mind changes the character, the habits, the life.

The body is the image of the mind.

June Eleventh.

ONE who sutlers in body will not necessarily at once be cured when he begins to fashion his mind on

moral and harmonious principles ; indeed, for a time, while the body is bringing to a crisis, and

throwing off the effects of former inharmonies, the morbid condition may appear to be intensified. As a

man does not gain perfect peace immediately he enters upon the path of righteousness, but must, except

in rare instances, pass through a painful period of adjustment, neither does he, with the same rare

exception, at once acquire perfect health. Time is required for bodily as well as mental readjustment,

and even if health is not reached, it will be approached. If the mind be made robust, the bodily

condition will take a secondary and subordinate place, and will cease to have that primary importance

which so many give to it.

Mental harmony, or moral wholeness, makes for bodily health.

Reach out into a comprehension of the Infinite.

June Twelfth.

WHILST vainly imagining that the I pleasures of earth are real and satisfying pain and sorrow

continually remind man of their unreal and unsatisfying nature. Ever striving to believe that complete

satisfaction is to be found in material things, he is conscious of an inward and persistent revolt against

this belief, which revolt is at once a refutation of his essential mortality, and an inherent and

imperishable proof that only in the immortal, the eternal, the infinite, can he find abiding satisfaction

and unbroken peace.

Man is essentially and spiritually divine and eternal, and, immersed in mortality and troubled unrest, he

is striving to enter into a consciousness of his real nature.

The common ground of faith—the root and spring of all religion—the heart of Love !

The restful Reality of the Eternal Heart.

June Thirteenth.

THE spirit of man is inseparable from I the Infinite, and can be satisfied with nothing short of the

Infinite, and the burden of pain will continue to weigh upon man‘s heart, and the shadows of sorrow to

darken his pathway, until, ceasing from wanderings in the dream-world of matter, he comes back to his

home in the reality of the Eternal.

As the smallest drop of water detached from the ocean contains all the qualities of the ocean, so man,

detached in consciousness from the Infinite, contains within himself its likeness ; and as the drop of

water must, by the law of nature, ultimately find its way back to the ocean and lose itself in its silent

depths, so must man, by the unfailing law of his nature, at last return to his source, and lose himself in

the heart of the Infinite.

To become one with the Infinite is the goal of man.

Enter into perfect harmony with the Eternal Law, which is Wisdom, Love, and Peace.

June Fourteenth.

THIS divine state is, and must ever be, incomprehensible to the merely

personal. Personality, separateness,

selfishness, are one and the same, and are the antithesis of wisdom and divinity. By the unqualified

surrender of the personality, separateness and selfishness cease, and man enters into the possession of

his divine heritage of immortality and infinity.

Such surrender of the personality is regarded by the worldly and selfish mind as the most grievous of

all calamities, the most irreparable loss, yet it is the one supreme and incomparable blessing, the only

real and lasting gain. The mind unenlightened upon the inner laws of being and upon the nature and

destiny of its own life clings to transient appearances, things which have in them no enduring

substantiality, and so clinging, perishes, for the time being, amid the shattered wreckage of its own

illusions.

Love is universal, supreme, all-sufficing. This is the realisation of selfless love.

When a man s soul is clouded with selfishness in any or every form, he loses the power of spiritual

discrimination, and confuses the temporal with the eternal.

June Fifteenth.

MEN cling to and gratify the flesh as though it were going to last for ever, and though they try to forget

the nearness and inevitably of its dissolution, the dread of death and of the loss of all that they cling to

clouds their happiest hours, and the chilling shadow of their own selfishness follows them like a

remorseless

And with the accumulation of temporal comforts and luxuries, the divinity within men is drugged, and

they sink deeper and deeper into materiality, into the perishable life of the senses ; and where there is

sufficient intellect, theories concerning the immortality of the flesh come to be regarded as infallible

truths.

The perishable in the universe can never become permanent ; the permanent can never pass away.

Man cannot immortalise the flesh.

June Sixteenth.

ALL nature in its myriad forms of life is changeable, impermanent, unenduring. Only the informing

Principle of nature endures. Nature is many, and is marked by separation. The informing Principle is

one, and is marked by unity. By overcoming the senses and the selfishness within, which is the

overcoming of nature, man emerges from the chrysalis of the personal and illusory, and wings himself

into the glorious light of the impersonal, the region of Truth, out of which all perishable forms come.

Let men, therefore, practise self-denial ; let them conquer their animal inclinations ; let them refuse to

be enslaved by luxury and pleasure ; let them practise virtue, and grow daily into higher and ever

higher virtue, until at last they grow into the Divine.

Only by realising the God state of consciousness does man enter into immortality.

This only is true service to forget oneself in love towards all.

June Seventeenth.

WHOEVER fights ceaselessly against his own selfishness, and strives to supplant it with all-embracing

love, is a saint, whether he live in a cottage or in the midst of riches and influence ; or whether he

preaches or remains obscure.

To the worldling, who is beginning to aspire towards higher things, the saint, such as a sweet St.

Francis of Assisi, or a conquering St. Anthony, is a glorious and inspiring spectacle ; to the saint, an

equally enrapturing sight is that of the sage, sitting serene and holy, the conqueror of sin and sorrow, no

more tormented by regret and remorse, and whom even temptation can never reach ; and yet even the

sage is drawn on by a still more glorious vision, that of the Saviour actively manifesting His knowledge

in selfless works, and rendering His divinity more potent for good by sinking Himself in the throbbing,

sorrowing heart of mankind.

Only the work that is impersonal can live.

Where duties, howsoever humble, are done without self-interest, and with joyful sacrifice, there is true

service and enduring work.

June Eighteenth.

IT is given to the world to learn one great and divine lesson—-the lesson of absolute unselfishness. The

saints, sages, and saviours of all time are they who have submitted themselves to this task, and have

learned and lived it. All the scriptures of the world are framed to teach this one lesson, all the great

teachers reiterate it. It is too simple for the world which, scorning it, stumbles along in the complex

ways of selfishness.

To search for this righteousness is to walk the Way of Truth and Peace, and he who enters this Way will

soon perceive that Immortality which is independent of birth and death, and will realise that in the

divine economy of the universe the humblest effort is not lost. The world will not have finished its long

journey until every soul has entered into the blissful realisation of its own divinity.

A pure heart is the end of all religion and the beginning of divinity.

In the external universe there is ceaseless turmoil, change, and unrest; at the heart of all things there is

undisturbed repose ; in this deep silence dwelleth the Eternal.

June Nineteenth.

AS there are depths in the ocean which the fiercest storm cannot reach, so there are silent, holy depths

in the heart of man which the storms of sin and sorrow can never disturb. To reach this silence and to

live consciously in it is peace.

Discord is rife in the outward world, but unbroken harmony holds sway at the heart of the universe.

The human soul reaches blindly toward the harmony of the sinless state, and to reach this state and to

live consciously in it is peace. Come away, for a while, from external things, from the pleasure of the

senses, from the arguments of the intellect, from the noise and the excitements of the world, and

withdraw yourself into the inmost chamber of your heart, and there, free from the sacrilegious intrusion

of all selfish desires, you will find a holy calm, a blissful repose ; the faultless eye of Truth will open

within you, and you will see things as they really are.

Become as little children.

Hatred severs human lives, fosters persecution, and hurls nations into ruthless war.

June Twentieth.

MEN cry peace ! peace ! where there is no peace, but, on the contrary, discord, disquietude, and strife.

Apart from that wisdom which is inseparable from self-renunciation, there can be no real and abiding

peace.

The peace which results from social comfort, passing gratification, or worldly victory is transitory in its

nature, and is burnt up in the heat of fiery trial. Only the Peace of Heaven endures through all trial, and

only the selfless heart can know the Peace of Heaven.

Holiness alone is undying peace. Self-control leads to it, and the ever-increasing Light of Wisdom

guides the pilgrim on his way. It is partaken of in a measure as soon as the path of virtue is entered

upon, but it is only realised in its fullness when self disappears in the consummation of a stainless life.

This inward peace, this silence, this harmony, this love is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Realise the Light that never fades ,

June Twenty-first.

IF, O reader ! you would realise the Joy that never ends, and the tranquillity that cannot be disturbed; if

you would leave behind for ever your sins, your sorrow, your anxieties, and perplexities ; if, I say, you

would partake of this salvation, this supremely glorious Life, then conquer yourself. Bring every

thought, every impulse, every desire into perfect obedience to the divine power resident within you.

There is no other way to peace but this ; and if you refuse to walk it, your much praying and your strict

adherence to ritual will be fruitless and unavailing, and neither gods nor angels can help you. Only to

him that overcometh is given the white stone of the regenerate life, on which is written the New and

Ineffable Name.

The holy place within you is your real and eternal self : it is the divine within you.

Spiritual Principles can only be acquired after long discipline in the pursuit and practice of Virtue.

June Twenty-Second.

HE schoolmaster never attempts to teach his pupils the abstract principles of mathematics at the

commencement ; he knows that by such a method teaching would be vain, and learning impossible. He

first places before them a very simple sum, and, having explained it, leaves them to do it. When, after

repeated failures and ever-renewed effort, they have succeeded in doing it correctly, a more difficult

task is set them, and then another and another ; and not until the pupils have, through many years of

diligent application, mastered all the lessons in arithmetic does he attempt to unfold to them the

underlying mathematical principles.

Thus practice ever precedes knowledge even in the ordinary things of the world, and in spiritual things,

in the living of the higher life, this law is rigid in its exactions.

Truth can only be arrived at by daily and hourly doing the lessons of Virtue.

June Twenty-third.

IN a properly governed household the child is first taught to be obedient, and to conduct itself properly

under all circumstances. The child is not even told why it must do this, but is commanded to do it, and

only after it has so far succeeded in doing what is right and proper is it told why it should do it. No

father would attempt to teach his child the principles of ethics before exacting from it the practice of

filial duty and social virtue.

Virtue can only be known by doing, and the knowledge of Truth can only be arrived at by perfecting

oneself in the practice of Virtue; and to be complete in the practice and acquisition of Virtue is to be

complete in the knowledge of Truth.

Undaunted by failure, and made stronger by difficulties.

Learn the lessons of Virtue, and thus build up in the strength of knowledge, destroying ignorance and

the ills of life.

June Twenty-fourth.

WHERE Love is, God is, and where Goodness lives

There Christ abides; and he who daily strives

‘Gainst self and selfishness, shaping his mind

For Truth and Purity, shall surely find

The Master‘s presence in his inmost heart.

God shall be one with him (and not apart)

Who overcomes himself, and makes his life

Godlike and holy ; banishing all strife

Far from him ; letting hate and anger die,

And greed and pride and fleshly lusts that lie

To God and Goodness : great shall be his peace,

Happy and everlasting his release

From pain and sorrow who doth conquer sin.

To the pure heart comes God and dwells therein:

He only who the Path of Good hath trod

Hath found the Life that‘s " hid with Christ in God."

" Make pure thy heart, and thou wilt make thy life Rich, sweet, and beautiful, unmarred by strife."

Stimulate the mind to watchfulness and reflection.

June Twenty-fifth.

IT will be seen that the first step in the discipline of the mind is the over-coming of indolence. This is

the easiest step, and until it is perfectly accomplished the other steps cannot be taken. The clinging to

indolence constitutes a complete barrier to the Path of Truth. Indolence consists in giving the body

more ease and sleep than it requires, in procrastinating, and in shirking and neglecting those things

which should receive immediate attention. This condition of laziness must be overcome by rousing up

the body at an early hour, giving it just the amount of sleep it requires for complete recuperation, and

by doing, promptly and vigorously, every task and duty, no matter how small, as it comes along.

The heart must be purified of sensual and gustatory lust.

A listless mind could not achieve any kind of success.

June Twenty-sixth.

SUCCESS is rooted in a subtle mental brooding along a given line. It subsists in an individual

characteristic, or combination of characteristics, and not in a particular circumstance, or set of

circumstances. The circumstances appear, it is true, and form part of the success, but these would be

useless without the mind that can penetrate and utilise them.

At the root of every success there is some form of well-husbanded and well-directed energy. There has

been some persistent brooding of the mind upon a project. Success is like a flower : it may appear more

or less suddenly, but it is the finished product of a long series of efforts, of preparatory stages. Men see

the success, but the preparation for it, the innumerable mental processes that led up to it, are hidden

from them.

Without exertion nothing can be accomplished.

In order to achieve the higher forms of success, a man must give up anxiety, hurry, and fussiness.

June Twenty-seventh.

PRESSING forward persistently along a given way is sure to lead to a destination that is definitely

associated with that way. Frequent going aside, or turning back, will render effort fruitless ; no

destination will he reached ; success will remain afar off.

Effort, and the more effort, and then effort again, is the keynote of success. As the simple old saying

has it:

" If at first you don’t succeed, Try again." All the precepts of successful business men are precepts of

doing ; all the precepts of the wise teachers are precepts of doing. To cease to do is to cease to be of

any use in the economy of life. Doing means effort, exertion.

Transmute the energy that wears and breaks down into that deeper and less obtrusive kind that

preserves and builds up.

The silent, calm people will manifest a more enduring form of success than those who are noisy and

restless.

June Twenty-eighth.

WHEN a man exchanges coppers for silver, and silver for gold, he does not thereby give up the use of

money ; he exchanges a heavy mass for one that is lighter and smaller but more valuable. So when a

man exchanges hurry for deliberation, and deliberation for calmness, he does not give up effort, he

merely exchanges a diffusive and more or less ineffective energy for a more highly concentrated,

effective, and valuable form.

Yet even the crudest forms of effort are necessary at first, for without them to begin with the higher

forms could not be acquired. The child must crawl before it can walk ; it must babble before it can talk

; it must talk before it can compose. Man begins in weakness and ends in strength, but from beginning

to end he advances by the efforts he makes, by the exertion he puts forth.

The root of success is in character.

The law which punishes us is the law which preserves us.

June Twenty-ninth.

WHEN in their ignorance men would destroy themselves, its everlasting arms are thrown about them in

loving, albeit sometimes painful, protection. Every pain we suffer brings us nearer to the knowledge of

the Divine Wisdom. Every blessedness we enjoy speaks to us of the perfection of the Great Law, and of

the fullness of bliss that shall be man‘s when he has come to his heritage of divine knowledge. We

progress by learning, and we learn, up to a certain point, by suffering. When the heart is mellowed by

love, the law of love is perceived in all its wonderful kindness ; when wisdom is acquired, peace is

assured.

We cannot alter the law of things, which is of sublime perfection, but we can alter ourselves so as to

comprehend more and more of that perfection, and make its grandeur ours.

To wish to bring down the perfect to the imperfect is the crown of folly, but to strive to bring the

imperfect up to the perfect is the height of wisdom.

Seers of the Cosmos do not mourn over the scheme of things.

June Thirtieth.

SEERS of the Cosmos see the universe as a perfect whole, and not as an imperfect jumble of parts. The

Great Teachers are men of abiding joy and heavenly peace.

The blind captive of unholy desire may cry:

" Ah ! Love, could you and I with Him conspire To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, Would we

not shatter it to bits, and then Remould it nearer to the heart‘s desire ? "

This is the wish of the voluptuary, the wish to enjoy unlawful pleasures to any extent, and not reap any

painful consequences. It is such men who regard the universe as a " sorry scheme of things." They want

the universe to bend to their will and desire ; want lawlessness, not law ; but the wise man bends his

will and subjects his desires to the Divine Order, and he sees the universe as the glorious perfection of

an infinitude of parts.

To perceive it, is the beatific vision ; to know it, is the beatific bliss.

Wisdom is the aim of every philosophy.

July First.

IN whatever condition a man finds himself, he can always find the True ; and he can find it only by so

utilising his present condition as to become strong and wise. The effeminate hankering after rewards,

and the craven fear of punishment, let them be put away for ever, and let a man joyfully bend himself

to the faithful performance of all his duties, forgetting himself and his worthless pleasures, and living

strong and pure and self-contained ; so shall he surely find the Unfailing Wisdom, the God-like

Patience and Strength. " The situation that has not its Duty, its Ideal, was never yet occupied by man."

All that is beautiful and blessed is in thyself, not in thy neighbour‘s wealth. Thou art poor? Thou art

poor indeed if thou art not stronger than thy poverty ! Thou hast suffered calamities ? Tell me, wilt thou

cure calamity by adding anxiety to it ? There is no evil but will vanish if thou wilt wisely meet it.

Canst thou mend a broken vase by weeping over it?

The might of meekness !

July Second.

THE man who conquers another by force is strong ; the man who conquers himself by Meekness is

mighty. He who conquers another by force will himself likewise be conquered ; he who conquers

himself by Meekness will never be overthrown, for the human cannot overcome the divine. The meek

man is triumphant in defeat. Socrates lives the more by being put to death; in the crucified Jesus the

risen Christ is revealed ; and Stephen, in receiving his stoning, defies the hurting power of stones. That

which is real cannot be destroyed, but only that which is unreal. When a man finds that within him

which is real, which is constant, abiding, changeless, and eternal, he enters into that Reality, and

becomes meek. All the powers of darkness will come against him, but they will do him no hurt, and

will at last depart from him.

Meekness is a divine quality, and as such is all powerful.

Nothing is hidden from him who overcomes himself.

July Third.

INTO the cause of causes shalt thou penetrate, and lifting, one after another, every veil of illusion, shalt

reach at last the inmost Heart of Being. Thus becoming one with Life, thou shalt know all life, and,

seeing into causes, and knowing realities, thou shalt be no more anxious about thyself, and others, and

the world, but shalt see that all things that are, are engines of the Great Law. Canopied with gentleness,

thou shalt bless where others curse ; love where others hate ; forgive where others condemn ; yield

where others strive ; give up where others grasp ; lose where others gain. And in their strength they

shall be weak ; and in thy weakness thou shalt be strong ; yea, thou shalt mightily prevail. " Therefore,

when Heaven would save a man, it enfolds him with gentleness."

He that hath not unbroken gentleness hath not Truth.

How can he fear any who wrongs none ?

July Fourth.

THE righteous man is invincible. No enemy can possibly overcome or con-found him ; and he needs no

other protection than that of his own integrity and holiness. As it is impossible for evil to overcome

Good, so the righteous man can never be brought low by the unrighteous. Slander, envy, hatred, malice

can never reach him, nor cause him any suffering, and those who try to injure him only succeed

ultimately in bringing ignominy upon themselves.

The righteous man having nothing to hide, committing no acts which require stealth, and harbouring no

thoughts and desires which he would not like others to know, is fearless and unashamed. His step is

firm, his body upright, and his speech direct and without ambiguity. He looks everybody in the face.

How can he be ashamed before any who deceives none ?

Ceasing from all wrong you can never be wronged ; ceasing from all deceit you can never be deceived.

The universe is preserved because Love is at the Heart of it

July Fifth.

THE Children of Light who abide in the Kingdom of Heaven see the universe, and all that it contains,

as the manifestation of one Law—the Law of Love. They see Love as the moulding, sustaining,

protecting, and perfecting Power immanent in all things animate and inanimate. To them Love is not

merely and only a rule of life, it is the Law of life, it is Life itself. Knowing this, they order their whole

life in accordance with Love, not regarding their own personality. By thus practising obedience to the

Highest, to divine Love, they become conscious partakers of the power of Love, and so arrive at perfect

Freedom as Masters of Destiny. Love is Perfect Harmony, pure bliss, and contains, therefore, no

element of suffering. Let a man think no thought and do no act that is not in accordance with pure

Love, and suffering shall no more trouble him.

Love is the only preserving power.

To know Love is to know that there is no harmful power in the whole universe.

July Sixth.

IF a man would know Love, and partake of its undying bliss, he must practise it in his heart; he must

become Love. He who always acts from the spirit of Love is never deserted, is never left in a dilemma

or difficulty, for Love (impersonal Love) is both Knowledge and Power. He who has learned how to

Love has learned how to master every difficulty, how to transmute every failure into success, how to

clothe every event and condition in garments of blessedness and beauty.

The way to Love is by self-mastery, and, travelling that way, a man builds himself up in Knowledge as

he proceeds. Arriving at Love, he enters into full possession of body and mind, by right of the divine

Power which he has earned. " Perfect Love casteth out fear."

Perfect Love is perfect Harmlessness. And he who has destroyed in himself all thoughts of harm, and

all desire to harm, receives the universal protection.

By self-enlightenment is Perfect Freedom found,

July Seventh.

THERE is no bondage in the Heavenly Life. There is Perfect Freedom. This is its great glory. This

Supreme Freedom is gained only by obedience. He who obeys the Highest co-operates with the

Highest, and so masters every force within himself and every condition without. A man may choose the

lower and neglect the Higher, but the Higher is never overcome by the lower : herein lies the revelation

of Freedom. Let a man choose the Higher and abandon the lower ; he shall then establish himself as an

overcomer, and shall realise Perfect Freedom.

To give the reins to inclination is the only slavery ; to conquer oneself is the only freedom. The slave to

self loves his chains, and will not have one of them broken for fear he would be depriving himself of

some cherished delight. He thus defeats and enslaves himself.

The Land of Perfect Freedom lies through the Gate of Knowledge.

Man will be free when he is freed from self.

July Eighth.

ALL outward oppression is but the shadow and effect of the real oppression within. For ages the

oppressed have cried for liberty, and a thousand man-made statutes have failed to give it to them. They

can give it only to themselves ; they shall find it only in obedience to the Divine Statutes which are

inscribed upon their hearts. Let them resort to the inward Freedom, and the shadow of oppression shall

no more darken the earth. Let men cease to oppress themselves, and no man shall oppress his brother.

Men legislate for an outward freedom, yet continue to render such freedom impossible of achievement

by fostering an inward condition of enslavement. They thus pursue a shadow without, and ignore the

substance within. All outward forms of bondage and oppression will cease to be when man ceases to be

the willing bond-slave of passion, error, and ignorance.

Freedom is to the free !

The True, the Beautiful, the Great is always childlike, and is perennially fresh and young.

July Ninth.

THE great man is always the good man; he is always simple. He draws from, nay, lives in, the

inexhaustible fountain of divine Goodness within; he inhabits the Heavenly Places; communes with the

vanished great ones ; lives with the Invisible : he is inspired, and breathes the airs of Heaven. He who

would be great, let him learn to be good. He will therefore become great by not seeking greatness.

Aiming at greatness, a man arrives at nothingness ; aiming at nothingness he arrives at greatness. The

desire to be great is an indication of littleness, of personal vanity and obtrusiveness. The willingness to

disappear from gaze, the utter absence of self-aggrandisement, is the witness of greatness. Littleness

seeks and loves authority. Greatness is never authoritative, and it thereby becomes the authority to

which the after ages appeal.

Be thy simple self, thy better self, the impersonal self, and lo ! thou art great !

The greatness that is flawless, rounded, and complete is above and beyond all art.

July Tenth.

WOULDST thou preach the living Word ? Thou shalt forgo thyself, and become that Word. Thou shalt

know one thing—that the human heart is good, is divine ; thou shalt live one thing—Love. Thou shalt

love all, seeing no evil, believing no evil; then, though thou speak but little, thy every act shall be a

power, thy every word a precept. By thy pure thought, thy selfless deed, though it appear hidden, thou

shalt preach, down the ages, to untold multitudes of aspiring souls.

To him who chooses Goodness, sacrificing all, is given that which includes all. He becomes the

possessor of the Best, communes with the Highest, and enters the company of the Great.

The greatness that is flawless, rounded, and complete is above and beyond all art. It is Perfect

Goodness in manifestation : therefore the greatest souls are always Teachers.

Every natural law has its spiritual counterpart.

July Eleventh.

THOUGHTS arc seeds, which, falling in the soil of the mind, germinate and develop until they reach

the completed stage, blossoming into deeds good or bad, brilliant or stupid, according to their nature,

and ending as seeds of thought to be again sown in other minds. A teacher is a sower of seed, a spiritual

agriculturist, while he who teaches himself is the wise farmer of his own mental plot. The growth of a

thought is as the growth of a plant. The seed must be sown seasonably, and time is required for its full

development into the plant of knowledge and the flower of wisdom.

The seen is the mirror of the unseen.

Energy to be productive must not only be directed towards good ends, it must be carefully controlled

and conserved.

July Twelfth.

THE advice of one of the Great Teachers to his disciples, " Keep wide awake," tersely expresses the

necessity for tireless energy if one‘s purpose is to be accomplished, and is equally good advice to the

salesman as to the saint. " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and liberty is the reaching of one‘s

fixed ends. It was the same Teacher who said : "If anything is to be done, let a man do it at once ; let

him attack it vigorously ! " The wisdom of this advice is seen when it is remembered that action is

creative, that increase and development follow upon legitimate use. To get more energy we must use to

the full that which we already possess. Only to him that puts his hand vigorously to some task do power

and freedom come.

Noise and hurry are so much energy running to waste.

It is a great delusion that noise means power.

July Thirteenth.

WHERE calmness is, there is the greatest power. Calmness is the sure indication of a strong, well-

trained, patiently disciplined mind. The calm man knows his business, be sure of it. His words are few,

but they tell. His schemes are well planned, and they work true, like a well-balanced machine. He sees

a long way ahead, and makes straight for his object. The enemy, Difficulty, he converts into a friend,

and makes profitable use of him, for he has studied well how to " agree with his adversary while he is

in the way with him." Like a wise general, he has anticipated all emergencies. Indeed, he is the man

who is prepared beforehand. In his meditations, in the counsels of his judgment, he has conferred with

causes, and has caught the bent of all contingencies. He is never taken by surprise; is never in a hurry;

is safe in the keeping of his own steadfastness ; and is sure of his ground.

Working steam is not heard. It is the escaping steam which makes a great noise.

Energy is the first pillar in the temple of prosperity.

July fourteenth.

CALMNESS, as distinguished from the dead placidity of languor, is the acme of concentrated energy.

There is a focused mentality behind it. In agitation and excitement the mentality is dispersed. It is

irresponsible, and is without force or weight. The fussy, peevish, irritable man has no influence. He

repels, not attracts. He wonders why his " easy-going " neighbour succeeds, and is sought after, while

he, who is always hurrying, worrying, and troubling (he miscalls it striving), fails, and is avoided. His

neighbour, being a calmer man, not more easygoing but more deliberate, gets through more work, does

it more skilfully, and is more self-possessed and manly. This is the reason of his success and influence.

His energy is controlled and used, while the other man‘s energy is dispersed and abused.

No energy means no capacity.

The spendthrift can never become rich, but, if he begin with riches, must soon become poor.

July Fifteenth.

THE poor man who is to become rich must begin at the bottom, and must not wish, or try, to appear

affluent by attempting something far beyond his means. There is always plenty of room and scope at

the bottom, and it is a safe place from which to begin, as there is nothing below, and everything above.

Many a young business man comes at once to grief by swagger and display, which he foolishly

imagines are necessary to success, but which, deceiving no one but himself, lead quickly to ruin. A

modest and true beginning, in any sphere, will better ensure success than an exaggerated advertisement

of one‘s standing and importance.

The thrifty and prudent are on the way to riches.

Vanity leading to excessive luxury in clothing is a vice which should be studiously avoided by virtuous

people.

July Sixteenth.

AN obtrusive display in clothing and jewellery bespeaks a vulgar and empty mind. Modest and

cultured people are modest and becoming in their dress, and their spare money is wisely used in further

enhancing their culture and virtue. Education and progress are of more importance to them than

needless, vain apparel ; and literature, art, and science are encouraged thereby. A true refinement is in

the mind and behaviour, and a mind adorned with virtue and intelligence cannot add to its

attractiveness (though it may detract from it) by an ostentatious display of the body.

Simplicity in dress, as in other things, is the best.

Money wasted can be restored ; health wasted can be restored ; but time wasted can never be restored.

July Seventeenth.

THE man who gets up early in order to

think and plan, that he may weigh and

consider and forecast, will always

manifest greater skill and success in his

particular pursuit than the man who lies in bed till the last moment, and only gets up in time to begin

breakfast. An hour spent in this way before breakfast will prove of the greatest value in making one‘s

efforts fruitful. It is a means of calming and clarifying the mind, and of focusing one‘s energies so as to

render them more powerful and effective. The best and most abiding success is that which is made

before eight o‘clock in the morning. He who is at his business at six o‘clock will always—all other

conditions being equal—be a long way ahead of the man who is in bed at eight.

The day is not lengthened for any man.

Wisdom is the highest form of skill.

July Eighteenth.

THERE is one right way of doing everything, even the smallest, and a thousand wrong ways. Skill

consists in finding the one right way, and adhering to it. The inefficient bungle confusedly about among

the thousand wrong ways, and do not adopt the right one when it is pointed out to them. They do this in

some cases because they think, in their ignorance, that they know best, thereby placing themselves in a

position where it becomes impossible to learn, even though it be only to learn how to clean a window

or sweep a floor. Thoughtlessness and inefficiency are all too common. There is plenty of room in the

world for thoughtful and efficient people. Employers of labour know how difficult it is to get the best

workmanship. The good workman, whether with tools or brains, whether with speech or thought, will

always find a place for the exercise of his skill.

Skill is gained by thoughtfulness and attention.

There is no striking a cheap bargain with prosperity.

July Nineteenth.

AS the bubble cannot endure, so the fraud cannot prosper. He makes a feverish spurt in the acquirement

of money, and then collapses. Nothing is ever gained, ever can be gained, by fraud. It is but wrested for

a time, to be again returned with heavy interest. But fraud is not confined to the unscrupulous swindler.

All who are getting, or trying to get, money without giving an equivalent are practising fraud, whether

they know it or not. Men who are anxiously scheming how to get money without working for it are

frauds, and mentally they are closely allied to the thief and swindler under whose influence they come,

sooner or later, and who deprives them of their capital.

Prosperity must be purchased, not only with intelligent labour, but with moral force.

Sterling integrity tells wherever it is, and stamps its hall-mark on all transactions.

July Twentieth.

TO be complete and strong, integrity must embrace the whole man, and extend to all the details of his

life ; and it must be so thorough and permanent as to withstand all temptations to swerve into

compromise. To fail in one point is to fail in all, and to admit, under stress, a compromise with

falsehood, howsoever necessary and insignificant it may appear, is to throw down the shield of

integrity, and to stand exposed to the onslaughts of evil.

The man who works as carefully and conscientiously when his employer is away as when his eye is on

him, will not long remain in an inferior position. Such integrity in duty, in performing the details of his

work, will quickly lead him into the fertile regions of prosperity.

The man of integrity is in line with the fixed law of things. He is like a strong tree whose roots are fed

by perennial springs, and which no tempest can lay low.

Ignorant men imagine that dishonesty is a short cut to prosperity.

July Twenty-first.

HONESTY is the surest way to success. The clay at last comes when the dishonest man repents in

sorrow and suffering ; but no man ever needs to repent of having been honest. Even when the honest

man fails—as he does sometimes through lacking other of those pillars, such as energy, economy, or

system—his failure is not the grievous thing that it is to the dishonest mem, for he can always rejoice in

the fact that he has never defrauded a fellow-being. Even in his darkest hour he finds repose in a clear

conscience.

The dishonest man is morally short-sighted.

Strong men have strong purposes, and strong purposes lead to strong achievements.

July Twenty-second.

INVINCIBILITY is a glorious protector, but it only envelops the man whose integrity is perfectly pure

and unassailable. Never to violate, even in the most insignificant particular, is to be invincible against

all the assaults of innuendo, slander, and misrepresentation. The man who has failed in one point is

vulnerable, and the shaft of evil, like the arrow in the heel of Achilles, will lay him low. Pure and

perfect integrity is proof against all attack and injury, enabling its possessor to meet all opposition and

persecution with dauntless courage and sublime equanimity. No amount of talent, intellect, or business

acumen can give a man that power of mind and peace of heart which come from an enlightened

acceptance and observance of lofty moral principles.

Moral force is the greatest power.

The test of a man is in his immediate acts, and not in his ultra sentiments.

July Twenty-third.

SYMPATHY should not be confounded with that maudlin and superficial sentiment which, like a pretty

flower without root, presently perishes and leaves behind neither seed nor fruit. To fall into hysterical

weeping when parting with a friend, or on hearing of some suffering abroad, is not sympathy. Neither

are bursts of violent indignation against the cruelties and injustices of others any indication of a

sympathetic mind. If one is cruel at home—if he badgers his wife, or beats his children, or abuses his

servants, or stabs his neighbours with shafts of sarcasm— what hypocrisy is in his profession of love

for suffering people who are outside the immediate range of his influence ! What shallow sentiment

informs his bursts of indignation against the injustices and hard-heartedness in the world around him !

Sympathy is a deep, inexpressible tenderness which is shown in a consistently self-forgetful, gentle

character.

Lack of sympathy arises in egotism; sympathy arises in love.

July Twenty-fourth.

SYMPATHY leads us to the hearts of all men, so that we become spiritually united to them, and when

they suffer we feel the pain ; when they are glad, we rejoice with them ; when they are despised and

persecuted, we spiritually descend with them into the depths, and take into our hearts their humiliation

and distress ; and he who has this binding, uniting spirit of sympathy can never be cynical and

condemnatory, can never pass thoughtless and cruel judgments upon his fellows, because in his

tenderness of heart he is ever with them in their pain.

But to have reached this ripened sympathy, it must needs be that he has loved much, suffered much,

and sounded the dark depths of sorrow. It springs from acquaintance with the profoundest experiences,

so that a man has had conceit, thoughtlessness, and selfishness burnt out of his heart.

Sympathy, in its real and profound sense, is oneness with others in their strivings and sufferings.

Gentleness is the hall-mark of spiritual culture.

July Twenty-fifth.

LET a man beware of greed, of meanness, of envy, of jealousy, of suspicion, for these things, if

harboured, will rob him of all that is best in life, aye, even all that is best in material things, as well as

all that is best in character and happiness. Let him be liberal of heart and generous of hand,

magnanimous and trusting, not only giving cheerfully and often of his substance, but allowing his

friends and fellow-men freedom of thought and action—let him be thus, and honour, plenty, and

prosperity will come knocking at his door for admittance as his friends and guests.

Gentleness is akin to divinity.

A gentle man—one whose good behaviour is prompted by thoughtfulness and kindliness—is always

loved, whatever may be his origin.

July Twenty-sixth.

THE man who has perfected himself in gentleness never quarrels. He never returns the hard word ; he

leaves it alone, or meets it with a gentle word, which is far more powerful than wrath. Gentleness is

wedded to wisdom, and the wise man has overcome all anger in himself, and so understands how to

overcome it in others. The gentle man is saved from most of the disturbances and turmoils with which

uncontrolled men afflict themselves. While they are wearing themselves out with wasteful and needless

strain, he is quiet and composed, and such quietness and composure are strong to win in the battle of

life.

Argument analyses the outer skin, but sympathy reaches to the heart.

Spurious things have no value, whether they be bric-a-brac or men.

July Twenty-seventh.

IT is all-important that we be real ; that we harbour no wish to appear other than what we are ; that we

simulate no virtue, assume no excellency, adopt no disguise. The hypocrite thinks he can hoodwink the

world and the eternal law of the world. There is but one person that he hoodwinks, and that is himself,

and for that the law of the world inflicts its righteous penalty. There is an old theory that the

excessively wicked are annihilated. I think to be a pretender is to come as near to annihilation as a man

can get, for there is a sense in which a man is gone, and in his place there is but a mirage of shams.

The sound-hearted man becomes an exemplar : he is, more than a man ; he is a reality, a force, a

moulding principle.

Evil is an experience, and not a power.

July Twenty-eighth.

THE painful experiences of evil pass away as the new experiences of good enter into and possess the

field of consciousness. And what are the new experiences of good ? They are many and beautiful—

such as the joyful knowledge of freedom from sin ; the absence of remorse ; deliverance from all the

torments of temptation ; ineffable joy in conditions and circumstances which formerly caused deep

affliction ; imperviousness to hurt by the actions of others ; great patience and sweetness of character ;

serenity of mind under all circumstances ; emancipation from doubt, fear, and anxiety ; freedom from

all dislike, envy, and enmity.

Evil is a state of ignorance, of undevelopment, and as such it recedes and disappears before the light of

knowledge.

When divine good is practised, life is bliss.

July Twenty-ninth.

TO have transcendent virtue is to enjoy transcendent felicity. The beatific blessedness which Jesus

holds out is promised to those having the beatific virtues—to the merciful, the pure in heart, the

peacemakers, and so on. The higher virtue does not merely and only lead to happiness, it is happiness.

It is impossible for a man of transcendent virtue to be unhappy. The cause of unhappiness must be

sought and found in the self-loving elements, and not in the self-sacrificing qualities. A man may have

virtue and be unhappy, but not so if he have divine virtue. Human virtue is mingled with self, and

therefore with sorrow ; but from divine virtue every taint of self has been purged away, and with it

every vestige of misery.

Truth lies upward and beyond.

Where passion is, peace is not; where peace is, passion is not.

July Thirtieth.

EN pray for peace, yet cling to passion; they foster strife, yet pray for heavenly rest. This is ignorance,

profound spiritual ignorance ; it is not to know the first letter in the alphabet of things divine. Hatred

and love, strife and peace, cannot dwell together in the same heart. Where one is admitted as a welcome

guest, the other will be turned away as an unwelcome stranger. He who despises another will be

despised by others ; he who opposes his fellow-men will himself be resisted. He should not be

surprised, and mourn, that men are divided. He should know that he is propagating strife. He should

understand his lack of peace.

By the way of self-conquest is the Perfect Peace achieved.

If men only understood That the wrong act of a brother Should not call from them another.

July Thirty-first.

IF men only understood

That their wrong can never smother

The wrong doing of another ;

That by hatred hate increases, And by Good all evil ceases, They would cleanse their hearts and

actions, Banish thence all vile detractions— If they only understood.

If men only understood That the heart that sins must sorrow, That the hateful mind to-morrow Reaps its

barren harvest, weeping, Starving, resting not, nor sleeping, Tenderness would fill their being, They

would see with Pity‘s seeing—

If they only understood.

If men only understood How Love conquers . . .

. . . They would ever Live in Love, in hatred never— If they only understood.

Let a man abandon self, let him overcome the world, let him deny the personal; by this pathway only

can he enter into the heart of the Infinite.

August First.

"GOODWILL gives insight," and only he who has so conquered his personality that he has but one

attitude of mind, that of goodwill, is possessed of divine insight, and is capable of distinguishing the

true from the false. The supremely good man is, therefore, the wise man, the divine man, the

enlightened seer, the knower of the Eternal. Where you find unbroken gentleness, enduring patience,

sublime lowliness, graciousness of speech, self-control, self-forgetfulness, and deep and abounding

sympathy, look there for the highest wisdom, seek the company of such a one, for he has realised the

Divine, he lives with the Eternal, he has become one with the Infinite. Those who are spiritually

awakened have alone comprehended the Universal Reality where all appearances are dispersed and

dreaming and delusion are destroyed.

To centre one’s life in the Great Law of Love is to enter into rest, harmony, peace.

To enter into a realisation of the Infinite and Eternal is to rise superior to time.

August Second.

TO refrain from all participation in evil

and discord , to cease from all resistance to evil, and from the omission of that which is good, and to

fall back upon unswerving obedience to the holy calm within, is to enter into the inmost heart of things,

is to attain to a living, conscious experience of that eternal and infinite principle which must ever

remain a hidden mystery to the merely perceptive intellect. Until this principle is realised, the soul is

not established in peace, and he who so realises is truly wise, not wise with the wisdom of the learned,

but with the simplicity of a blameless heart and of a divine manhood.

There is one Great Law which exacts unconditional obedience, one unifying principle which is the

basis of all diversity, one eternal Truth wherein all the problems of earth pass away like shadows.

To realise this Law, this Unity, this Truth, is to enter into the Infinite, is to become one with the Eternal.

Become established in Immortality, Heaven, and the Spirit, which make up the Empire of Light.

August Third.

ENTERING into the Infinite is not a mere theory or sentiment. It is a vital experience which is the

result of assiduous practice in inward purification. When the body is no longer to be, even remotely, the

real man ; when all appetites and desires are thoroughly subdued and purified ; when the emotions are

rested and calm; and when the oscillation of the intellect ceases and perfect poise is secured, then, and

not till then, does consciousness become one with the Infinite ; not till then is childlike wisdom and

profound peace secured.

Men grow weary and grey over the dark problems of life, and finally pass away and leave them

unsolved because they cannot see their way out of the darkness of the personality, being too much

engrossed in its limitations.

Seeking to save his personal life, man forfeits the greater impersonal Life of Truth; clinging to the

perishable, he is shut out from a knowledge of the Eternal.

Self and error are synonymous.

August Fourth.

ERROR is involved in the darkness of unfathomable complexity, but eternal simplicity is the glory of

Truth.

Love of self shuts men out from Truth, and seeking their own personal happiness they lose the deeper,

purer, and more abiding bliss. Says Carlyle, " There is in man a higher than happiness. He can do

without happiness, and instead thereof find blessedness. . . . Love not pleasure, love God. This is the

Everlasting Yea, wherein all contradiction is solved; wherein whoso walks and works, it is well with

him."

He who has yielded up that self, that personality that most men love, and to which they cling with such

fierce tenacity has left behind him all perplexity, and has entered into a simplicity so profoundly simple

as to be looked upon by the world, involved as it is in a network of error, as foolishness.

At rest in the Infinite.

The region of Reality. Unchanging principle.

August Fifth.

WHEN a man has yielded up his lusts, his errors, his opinions and prejudices, he has entered into

possession of the knowledge of God, having slain the selfish desire for heaven, and along with it the

ignorant fear of hell; having relinquished even the love of life itself, he has gained supreme bliss and

Life Eternal, the Life which bridges life and death, and knows its own immortality. Having yielded up

all without reservation, he has gained all, and rests in peace on the bosom of the Infinite.

Only he who has become so free from self as to be equally content to be annihilated as to live, or to live

as to be annihilated, is fit to enter into the Infinite. Only he who, ceasing to trust his perishable self, has

learned to trust in boundless measure the Great Law, the Supreme Good, is prepared to partake of

undying bliss.

By the surrender of self all difficulties are overcome.

There is no more regret, nor disappointment, nor remorse, where all selfishness has ceased.

August Sixth.

THE spirit of Love which is manifested as a perfect and rounded life is the crown of being and the

supreme end of knowledge upon this earth. How does a man act under trial and temptation ? Many men

boast of being in possession of Truth who are continually swayed by grief, disappointment, and

passion, and who sink under the first little trial that comes along. Truth is nothing if not unchangeable,

and in so far as a man takes his stand upon Truth does he become steadfast in virtue, does he rise

superior to his passions and emotions and changeable personality.

Men formulate perishable dogmas, and call them Truth. Truth cannot be formulated ; it is ineffable, and

ever beyond the reach of intellect. It can only be experienced by practice ; it can only be manifested in

a stainless heart and a perfect life.

He who is patient, calm, and forgiving under all circumstances manifests the Truth.

Practise heart-virtue, and search humbly and diligently for the Truth.

August Seventh.

TRUTH will never be proved by wordy arguments and learned treatises, for if men do not perceive the

Truth in infinite patience, undying forgiveness, and all-embracing compassion, no words can ever

prove it to them.

It is an easy matter for the passionate to be calm and patient when they are in the midst of calmness, or

when they are alone. It is equally easy for the uncharitable to be gentle and kind when they are dealt

kindly with, but he who retains his patience and calmness under all trial, who remains sublimely meek

and gentle under the most trying circumstances, he, and he alone, is possessed of the spotless Truth.

And this is so because such lofty virtues belong to the Divine, and can only be manifested by one who

has attained to the highest wisdom, who has relinquished his passionate and self-seeking nature, who

has realised the supreme and unchangeable Law, and has brought himself into harmony with it.

There is one great all-embracing Law which is the foundation of the universe, the Law of Love.

To become possessed of a knowledge of the Law of Love, to enter into conscious harmony with it, is to

become immortal, invincible, indestructible.

August Eighth.

IT is because of the effort of the soul to realise this Law that men come again and again to live, to

suffer, and to die ; and when realised, suffering ceases, personality is dispersed, and the fleshly life and

death are destroyed, for consciousness becomes one with the Eternal.

The Law is absolutely impersonal, and its highest manifested expression is that of Service. When the

purified heart has realised Truth, it is then called upon to make the last, the greatest, and holiest

sacrifice, the sacrifice of the well-earned enjoyment of Truth. It is by virtue of this sacrifice that the

divinely-emancipated soul comes to dwell amongst the lowliest and least, and to be esteemed the

servant of all mankind.

The Spirit of Love is alone singled out as worthy to receive the unstinted worship of posterity.

Truth cannot be limited.

August Ninth.

THE glory alike of the saint, the sage, and the saviour is this—that he has realised the most profound

lowliness, the most sublime unselfishness; having given up all, even his own personality, all his works

are holy and enduring, for they are freed from every taint of self. He gives, yet never thinks of

receiving ; he works, yet without regretting the past or anticipating the future, and never looks for

reward

When the farmer has tilled and dressed his land and put in the seed, he knows that he has done all that

he can possibly do, and that now he must trust to the elements, and wait patiently for the course of time

to bring about the harvest, and that no amount of expectancy on his part will affect the result, liven so,

he who has realised the Truth goes forth as a sower of the seeds of goodness, purity, love, and peace,

without expectancy, and never looking for results, knowing that there is the Great Over-ruling Law

which brings about its own harvest in due time, and which is alike the source of preservation and

destruction.

Every holy man became such by unremitting perseverance in self-sacrifice.

He who enters upon the holy way begins by restraining his passions.

August Tenth.

WHAT the saints, sages, and saviours have accomplished, you likewise may accomplish if you will

only tread the way which they trod and pointed out, the way of self-sacrifice, of self-denying service.

Truth is very simple. It says, " Give up self," " Come unto Me " (away from all that defiles) " and I will

give you rest." All the mountains of commentary that have been piled upon it cannot hide it from the

heart that is earnestly seeking for righteousness. It does not require learning ; it can be known in spite

of learning. Disguised under many forms by erring, self-seeking men, the beautiful simplicity and clear

transparency of Truth remains unaltered and undimmed, and the unselfish heart enters into and partakes

of its shining radiance. Not by weaving complex theories, not by building up speculative philosophies,

is Truth realised; but by weaving the web of inward purity, by building up the Temple of a stainless life,

is Truth realised.

Saint ship is the beginning of holiness.

Only when you identify yourself with the Divine can you be said to be " clothed and in your right

mind."

August Eleventh.

THE divine within is the abode of peace, the temple of wisdom, the dwelling-place of immortality.

Apart from this inward resting-place, this Mount of Vision, there can be no true peace, no knowledge of

the Divine, and if you can remain there for one minute, one hour, or one day, it is possible for you to

remain there always.

All your sins and sorrows, your fears and anxieties, are your own, and you can cling to them or you can

give them up. Of your own accord you cling to your unrest; of your own accord you can come to

abiding peace. No one else can give up sin for you; you must give it up yourself. The greatest Teacher

can do no more than walk the way of Truth for himself, and point it out to you ; you yourself must walk

it for yourself. You can obtain freedom and peace alone by your own efforts, by yielding up that which

binds the soul, and which is destructive of peace.

Give up all self-seeking ; give up self, and lo ! the Peace of God is yours.

Come out of the storms of sin and anguish.

August Twelfth.

O THOU who wouldst teach men of

Truth! Hast thou passed through the desert of doubt ? Art thou purged by the fires of sorrow ?

hath truth The fiends of opinion cast out. Of thy human heart ? Is thy soul so fair That no false thought

can ever harbour there ?

O thou who Wouldst teach men of Love !

Hast thou passed through the place of despair ? Hast thou wept through the dark night of grief ? does it

move

(Now freed from its sorrow and care) Thy human heart to pitying gentleness, Looking on wrong, and

hate, and ceaseless stress ?

O thou who Wouldst teach men of Peace !

Hast thou crossed the wide ocean of strife ? Hast thou found on the Shores of the Silence release

From all the wild unrest of life ? From thy human heart hath all striving gone, Leaving but Truth, and

Love, and Peace alone ?

Enter the inward resting-place.

Make yourself pure and lovable, and you will be loved by all.

August Thirteenth.

THINK of your servants with kindness, consider their happiness and comfort, and never demand of

them that extremity of service which you yourself would not care to perform were you in their place.

Rare and beautiful is that humility of soul by which a servant entirely forgets himself in his master‘s

good ; but far rarer, and more beautiful with a divine beauty, is that nobility of soul by which a man,

forgetting his own happiness, seeks the happiness of those who are under his authority, and who depend

upon him for their bodily sustenance. And such a man‘s happiness is increased tenfold, nor does he

need to complain of those whom he employs. Said a well-known and extensive employer of labour,

who never needs to dismiss an employee : "I have always had the happiest relations with my

workpeople. If you ask me how it is to be accounted for, I can only say that it has been my aim from

the first to do to them as I would wish to be done by."

Be friendly towards others, and friends will soon flock round you.

To dwell continually in good thoughts is to throw around oneself a psychic atmosphere of sweetness

and power which leaves its impress upon all who come in contact with it.

August Fourteenth.

AS the rising sun puts to rout the helpless shadows, so are all the impotent forces of evil put to flight by

the searching rays of positive thought which shine forth from a heart made strong in purity and faith.

Where there is sterling faith and uncompromising purity there is health, there is success, there is power.

In such a one, disease, failure, and disaster can find no lodgment, for there is nothing on which they can

feed.

Even physical conditions are largely determined by mental states, and to this truth the scientific world

is rapidly being drawn. The old, materialistic belief that a man is what his body makes him is rapidly

passing away, and is being replaced by the inspiring belief that man is superior to his body, and that his

body is what he makes it by the power of thought.

There is no evil in the universe but has its root and origin in the mind.

Renounce.

August Fifteenth.

IF you are given to anger, worry, jealousy, greed, or any other inharmonious state of mind, and expect

perfect physical health, you are expecting the impossible, for you are continually sowing the seeds of

disease in your mind. Such conditions of mind are carefully shunned by the wise man, for he knows

them to be far more dangerous than a bad drain or an infected house. If you would be free from all

physical aches and pains, and would enjoy perfect physical harmony, then put your mind in order, and

harmonise your thoughts. Think joyful thoughts; think loving thoughts ; let the elixir of goodwill

course through your veins, and you will need no other medicine. Put away your jealousies, your

suspicions, your worries, your hatreds, your selfish indulgences, and you will put away your dyspepsia,

your biliousness, your nervousness and aching joints.

If you would secure health, you must learn to work without friction.

Order your thoughts and you will order your life.

August Sixteenth.

POUR the oil of tranquillity upon the turbulent waters of the passions and prejudices, and the tempests

of misfortune, however they may threaten, will be powerless to wreck the barque of your soul, as it

threads its way across the ocean of life. And if that barque be piloted by a cheerful and never-failing

faith, its course will be doubly sure, and many perils will pass it by which would otherwise attack it. By

the power of faith every enduring work is accomplished. Faith in the Supreme ; faith in the over-ruling

Law; faith in your work, and in your power to accomplish that work—here is the rock upon which you

must build if you would achieve, if you would stand and not fall.

Follow, under all circumstances, the highest promptings within you.

Let your heart grow large and loving and unselfish, and great and lasting will be your influence and

success.

August Seventeenth.

CULTIVATE a pure and unselfish spirit, and combine with purity and faith singleness of purpose, and

you are evolving from the elements enduring success of greatness and power.

If your present position is distasteful to you, and your heart is not in your work, nevertheless perform

your duties with scrupulous diligence ; and whilst resting your mind in the idea that the better position

and greater opportunities are waiting for you, ever keep an active mental outlook for budding

possibilities, so that when the critical moment arrives, and the new channel presents itself, you will step

into it with your mind fully prepared for the undertaking, and with that intelligence and foresight which

is born of mental discipline.

Whatever your task may be, concentrate your whole mind upon it, throw into it all the energy of which

you are capable. The faultless completion of small tasks leads inevitably to larger tasks.

Learn by constant practice how to husband your resources, and to concentrate them, at any moment,

upon a given point.

Passion is not power ; it is the abuse of power, the dispersion of power.

August Eighteenth.

WHEN that young man, whom I knew, passing through continual reverses and misfortunes, was

mocked by his friends and told to desist from further effort, and he replied, " The time is not far distant

when you will marvel at my good fortune and success," he showed that he was possessed of that silent

and irresistible power which has taken him over innumerable difficulties, and crowned his life with

success.

If you have not this power, you may acquire it by practice, and the beginning of power is likewise the

beginning of wisdom. You must commence by overcoming those purposeless trivialities to which you

have hitherto been a willing victim. Boisterous and uncontrolled laughter, slander and idle talk, and

joking merely to raise a laugh—all these things must be put on one side as so much waste of valuable

energy.

Be of single aim ; have a legitimate and useful purpose, and devote yourself unreservedly to it.

Happiness is that inward state of perfect satisfaction which is joy and peace.

August Nineteenth.

THE satisfaction which results from gratified desire is brief and illusionary, and is always followed by

an increased demand for gratification. Desire is insatiable as the ocean, and clamours louder and louder

as its demands are attended to. It claims ever-increasing service from its deluded devotees, until at last

they are struck down with physical or mental anguish, and are hurled into the purifying fires of

suffering. Desire is the region of hell, and all torments are centred there. The giving up of desire is the

realisation of heaven, and all delights await the pilgrim there.

" I sent my soul through the invisible, Some letter of that after life to spell, And by and by my soul

returned to me, And whispered, ‘ I myself am heaven and hell.‘ "

Heaven and hell are inward states.

To seek selfishly is only to lose happiness

August Twentieth.

SINK into self and all its gratifications, and you sink into hell; rise above self into that state of

consciousness which is the utter denial and forgetfulness of self, and you enter heaven. Self is blind,

without judgment, not possessed of true knowledge, and always leads to suffering. Correct perception,

unbiased judgment, and true knowledge belong only to the divine state, and only in so far as you realise

this divine consciousness can you know what real happiness is. So long as you persist in selfishly

seeking for your own happiness, so long will happiness elude you, and you will be sowing the seeds of

wretchedness. In so far as you succeed in losing yourself in the service of others, in that measure will

happiness come to you, and you will reap a harvest of bliss.

Abiding happiness will come to you when, ceasing to selfishly cling, you are willing to give up.

Whatsoever you constantly meditate upon you will not only come to understand, but will grow more

and more into its likeness.

August Twenty-first.

SPIRITUAL meditation is the pathway to Divinity. It is the mystic ladder which reaches from earth to

heaven, from error to Truth, from pain to peace. Every saint has climbed it; every sinner must sooner or

later come to it, and every weary pilgrim that turns his back upon self and the world, and sets his face

resolutely towards the Father‘s Home, must plant his feet upon its golden rounds. Without its aid you

cannot grow into the divine state, the divine likeness, the divine peace, and the fadeless glories and

unpolluting joys of Truth will remain hidden from you.

If you constantly dwell upon that which is selfish and debasing, you will ultimately become selfish and

debased.

If you would enter into possession of profound and abiding peace, come now and enter the path of

meditation.

August Twenty-second.

SELECT some portion of the day in which to meditate, and keep that period sacred to your purpose.

The best time is the very early morning when the spirit of repose is upon everything. All natural

conditions will then be in your favour ; the passions, after the long bodily fast of the night, will be

subdued, the excitements and worries of the previous day will have died away, and the mind, strong

and yet restful, will be receptive to spiritual instruction. Indeed, one of the first efforts you will be

called upon to make will be to shake off lethargy and indulgence, and if you refuse you will be unable

to advance, for the demands of the spirit are imperative.

The sluggard and the self-indulgent can have no knowledge of Truth.

The direct outcome of your meditations will be a calm, spiritual strength.

August Twenty-third.

IF you are given to hatred or anger, you will meditate upon gentleness and forgiveness, so as to become

acutely alive to a sense of your harsh and foolish conduct. You will then begin to dwell in thoughts of

love, of gentleness, of abounding forgiveness ; and as you overcome the lower by the higher, there will

gradually, silently steal into your heart a knowledge of the divine Law of Love with an understanding

of its bearing upon all the intricacies of life and conduct. And in applying this knowledge to your every

thought, word, and act, you will grow more and more gentle, more and more loving, more and more

divine. And thus with every error, every selfish desire, every human weakness ; by the power of

meditation is it overcome ; and as each sin, each error, is thrust out, a fuller and clearer measure of the

Light of Truth illumines the pilgrim soul.

Great is the overcoming power of holy thought.

Meditation will enrich the soul with saving remembrance in the hour of strife, of sorrow, or of

temptation.

August Twenty-fourth.

AS, by the power of meditation, you grow in wisdom, you will relinquish, more and more, your selfish

desires which are fickle, impermanent, and productive of sorrow and pain ; and will take your stand,

with increasing steadfastness and trust, upon unchangeable principles, and will realise heavenly rest.

The use of meditation is the requirement of a knowledge of eternal principles, and the power which

results from meditation is the ability to rest upon and trust those principles, and so become one with the

Eternal. The end of meditation is, therefore, direct knowledge of Truth, God, and the realisation of

divine and profound peace.

Strive to rise, by the power of meditation, above all selfish clinging to partial gods or party creeds ;

above dead formalities and lifeless ignorance.

Remember that you are to grow into Truth by steady perseverance.

Believe that a life of perfect holiness is possible.

August Twenty-fifth.

SO believing, so aspiring, so meditating, divinely sweet and beautiful will be your spiritual

experiences, and glorious the revelations that will enrapture your inward vision. As you realise the

divine Love, the divine Justice, the Perfect Law of Good, or God, great will be your bliss and deep your

peace. Old things will pass away, and all things will become new. The veil of the material universe, so

dense and impenetrable to the eye of error, so thin and gauzy to the eye of Truth, will be lifted and the

spiritual universe will be revealed. Time will cease, and you will live only in Eternity. Change and

mortality will no more cause you anxiety and sorrow, for you will become established in the

unchangeable, and will dwell in the very heart of immortality.

He who believes climbs rapidly the heavenly hills.

Where self is, Truth is not ; where Truth is, self is not.

August Twenty-sixth.

UPON the battlefield of the human soul two masters are ever contending for the crown of supremacy,

for the kingship and dominion of the heart ; the master of self, called also the " Prince of this world,"

and the master of Truth, called also the Father God. The master self is that rebellious one whose

weapons are passion, pride, avarice, vanity, self-will, implements of darkness ; the master Truth is that

meek and lowly one whose weapons are gentleness, patience, purity, sacrifice, humility, love,

instruments of Light.

In every soul the battle is waged, and as a soldier cannot engage at once in two opposing armies, so

every heart is enlisted either in the ranks of self or of Truth. There is no half-and-half course. Jesus, the

manifested Christ, declared that " No man can serve two masters ; for either he will hate the one and

love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and

Mammon."

You cannot perceive the beauty of Truth while you are looking out through the eyes of self .

The lovers of Truth worship Truth with the sacrifice of self.

August Twenty-seventh.

DO you seek to know and to realise Truth ? Then you must be prepared to sacrifice, to renounce to the

uttermost, for Truth in all its glory can only be perceived and known when the last vestige of self has

disappeared.

The eternal Christ declared that he who would be His disciple must " deny himself daily." Are you

willing to deny yourself, to give up your lusts, your prejudices, your opinions? If so, you may enter the

narrow way of Truth, and find that peace from which the world is shut out. The absolute denial, the

utter extinction of self is the perfect state of Truth, and all religions and philosophies are but so many

aids to this supreme attainment.

As you let self die, you will be reborn in Truth.

Every holy man is a saviour of mankind.

August Twenty-eighth.

WHEN men, lost in the devious ways of error and self, have forgotten the " heavenly birth<" the state

of holiness and Truth, they set up artificial standards by which to judge one another, and make

acceptance of, and adherence to, their own particular theology the test of Truth ; and so men are divided

one against another, and there is ceaseless enmity and strife, and unending sorrow and suffering.

Reader, do you seek to realise the birth into Truth ? There is only one way : Let self die. All those lusts,

appetites, desires, opinions, limited conceptions, and prejudices to which you have hitherto so

tenaciously clung, let them fall from you. Let them no longer hold you in bondage, and Truth will be

yours. Cease to look upon your own religion as superior to all others, and strive humbly to learn the

supreme lesson of charity.

To be in the world and yet not of the world is the highest perfection.

The cause of all power, as of all weakness, is within.

August Twenty-ninth.

A THOROUGH understanding of this Great Law which permeates the universe leads to the

acquirement of that state of mind known as obedience. To know that justice, harmony, and love are

supreme in the universe is likewise to know that all adverse and painful conditions are the result of our

own disobedience to that Law. Such knowledge leads to strength and power, and it is upon such

knowledge alone that a true life and an enduring success and happiness can be built. To be patient

under all circumstances, and to accept all circumstances as necessary factors in your training, is to rise

superior to all painful conditions, and to overcome them with an overcoming which is sure, and which

leaves no fear of their return, for by the power of obedience to law they are utterly slain.

There is no progress apart from unfoldment within.

There is no sure foothold in prosperity or peace except by orderly advancement in knowledge.

August Thirtieth.

PERHAPS the chains of poverty hang heavily upon yon, and you are friendless and alone, and you

long with an intense longing that your load may be lightened ; but the load continues, and you seem to

be enveloped in an ever-increasing darkness. Perhaps you complain, you bewail your lot, you blame

your birth, your parents, your employer, or the unjust Powers who have bestowed upon you so

undeservedly poverty and hardship, and upon another affluence and ease. Cease your complaining and

fretting; none of these things which you blame are the cause of your poverty; the cause is within

yourself, and where the cause is, there is the remedy.

There is no room for a complainer in a universe of law, and worry is soul-suicide.

What your thoughts are, that is your real self.

August Thirty-first.

THE world around, both animate and inanimate, wears the aspect with which your thoughts clothe it. "

All that we are is the result of what we have thought ; it is founded on our thoughts ; it is made up of

our thoughts." Thus said Buddha, and it therefore follows that if a man is happy, it is because he dwells

in happy thoughts; if miserable, because he dwells in despondent and debilitating thoughts. Whether

one be fearful or fearless, foolish or wise, troubled or serene, within that soul lies the cause of its own

state or states, and never without. And now I seem to hear a chorus of voices exclaim, " But do you

realty mean to say that outward circumstances do not affect our minds ? " I do not say that, but I say

this, and know it to be an infallible truth, that circumstances can only affect you in so far as you allow

them to do so. You are swayed by circumstances because you have not a right understanding of the

nature, use, and power of thought.

To make a useful and happy life dependent upon health is to put matter before mind, is to subordinate

spirit to body.

September First.

MEN of robust minds do not dwell upon their bodily condition if it be in any way disordered—they

ignore it, and work on, live on, as though it were not. This ignoring of the body not only keeps the

mind sane and strong, but it is the best resource for curing the body. If we cannot have a perfectly

sound body, we can have a healthy mind, and a healthy mind is the best route to a sound body.

A sickly mind is more deplorable than a disordered body, and it leads to sickness of body. The mental

invalid is in a far more pitiable condition than the bodily invalid. There are invalids (every physician

knows them) who only need to lift themselves into a strong, unselfish, happy frame of mind to discover

that their body is whole and capable.

Moral principles are the soundest foundations for health, as well as for happiness.

Men are not made unhappy by poverty, but by the thirst for riches.

September Second.

WHERE there is a cause its effect will appear ; and were affluence the cause of immorality, and

poverty the cause of degradation, then every rich man would become immoral, and every poor man

would come to degradation.

An evil-doer will commit evil under any circumstances, whether he be rich or poor, or midway between

the two conditions. A right-doer will do right howsoever he be placed. Extreme circumstances may help

to bring out the evil which is already there awaiting its opportunity, but they cannot cause the evil,

cannot create it.

Poverty is more often in the mind than in the purse. So long as a man thirsts for more money he will

regard himself as poor, and in that sense he is poor, for covetousness is poverty of mind.

A miser may be a millionaire, but he is as poor as when he was penniless.

A man is great in knowledge, great in himself, and great in his influence in the world, in the measure

that he is great in self-control.

September Third.

WONDERFUL as are the forces in nature, they are vastly inferior to that combination of intelligent

forces which comprise the mind of man, and which dominate and direct the blind mechanical forces of

nature. Therefore, it follows that to understand, control, and direct the inner forces of passion, desire,

will, and intellect, is to be in possession of the destinies of men and nations.

He who understands and dominates the forces of external nature is the natural scientist ; but he who

understands and dominates the internal forces of the mind is the divine scientist ; and the laws which

operate in gaining a knowledge of external appearances operate also in gaining a knowledge of internal

verities.

The end of knowledge is use, service, the increase of the comfort and happiness of the world.

All things, whether visible or invisible, are subservient to, and fall within the scope of, the infinite and

eternal law and causation.

September Fourth.

PERFECT justice upholds the universe ; perfect justice regulates human life and conduct. All the

varying conditions of life, as they obtain in the world to-day, are the results of this law reacting on

human conduct. Man can (and does) choose what causes he shall set in operation, but he cannot change

the nature of effects ; he can decide what thoughts he shall think, and what deeds he shall do, but he has

no power over the results of those thoughts and deeds ; these are regulated by the over-ruling law.

Man has all power to act, but his power ends with the act committed. The result of the act cannot be

altered, annulled, or escaped; it is irrevocable.

Evil thoughts and deeds produce conditions of suffering; good thoughts and deeds determine conditions

of blessedness.

Man’s power is limited to, and his blessedness or misery is determined by, his own conduct.

September Fifth.

LIFE may be likened to a sum in arithmetic. It is bewilderingly difficult and complex to the pupil who

has not yet grasped the key to its correct solution, but once this is perceived and laid hold of it becomes

as astonishingly simple as it was formerly profoundly perplexing. Some idea of this relative simplicity

and complexity of life may be grasped by fully recognising and realising the fact that, while there are

scores, and perhaps hundreds, of ways in which a sum may be done wrong, there is only one way by

which it can be done right, and that when the right way is found the pupil knows it to be right; his

perplexity vanishes, and he knows that he has mastered the problem.

In life there can be no falsifying of results; the eye of the Great Law reveals and exposes.

Selfish thoughts and bad deeds will not produce a useful and beautiful life.

September Sixth.

LIFE is like a piece of cloth, and the threads of which it is composed are individual lives. The threads,

while being independent, are not confounded one with the other. Each follows its own course. Each

individual suffers and enjoys the consequences of his own deeds, and not the deeds of another. The

course of each is simple and definite ; the whole forming a complicated, yet harmonious, combination

of sequences. There are action and reaction, deed and consequence, cause and effect, and the

counterbalancing reaction, consequence, and effect is always in exact ratio with the initiatory impulse.

Each man makes or mars his own life.

Man is responsible only for his own deeds ; he is the custodian of his own actions.

September Seventh.

THE " problem of evil " subsists in a man‘s own evil deeds, and it is solved when those deeds are

purified. Says Rousseau :

"Man, seek no longer the origin of evil; thou thyself art its origin."

Effect can never be divorced from cause ; it can never be of a different nature from cause. Emerson

says :

" Justice is not postponed ; a perfect equity adjusts the balance in all parts of life."

And there is a profound sense in which cause and effect are simultaneous, and form one perfect whole.

Thus, upon the instant that a man thinks, say, a cruel deed, that same instant he has injured his own

mind ; he is not the same man he was the previous instant ; he is a little viler and a little more unhappy ;

and a number of successive thoughts and deeds would produce a cruel and wretched man.

An immediate nobility and happiness attend the thinking of a kind thought, or doing a kind deed.

Without strength of mind, nothing worthy of accomplishment can be done.

September Eighth.

THE cultivation of that steadfastness and stability of character which is commonly called " will-power

" is one of the foremost duties of man, for its possession is essentially necessary both to his temporal

and external well-being. Fixedness of purpose is at the root of all successful efforts, whether in things

worldly or spiritual, and without it man cannot be otherwise than wretched, and dependent upon others

for that support which should be found within himself.

The true path of will-cultivation is only to be found in the common everyday life of the individual, and

so obvious and simple is it that the majority, looking for something complicated and mysterious, pass it

by unnoticed.

The direct and only way to greater strength is to assail and conquer weaknesses.

In the training of the will the first step is the breaking away from bad habits.

September Ninth.

HE who has succeeded in grasping this simple, preliminary truth will perceive that the whole science of

will-cultivation is embodied in the following seven rules :

1. Break off bad habits.

2. Form good habits.

3. Give scrupulous attention to the duty

of the present moment.

4. Do vigorously, and at once, whatever

has to be done.

5. Live by rule.

6. Control the tongue.

7. Control the mind.

Anyone who earnestly meditates upon, and diligently practises, the above rules will not fail to develop

that purity of purpose and power of will which will enable him to successfully cope with every

difficulty, and pass triumphantly through every emergency.

By submitting to a bad habit one forfeits the right to rule over himself.

September Tenth.

HE who thus avoids self-discipline, and looks about for some " occult secrets " for gaining will-power

at the expenditure of little or no effort on his part, is deluding himself, and is weakening the willpower

which he already possesses.

The strength of will which is gained by success in overcoming bad habits enables one to initiate good

habits ; for, while the conquering of a bad habit requires merely strength of purpose, the forming of a

new one necessitates the intelligent direction of purpose. To do this, a man must be mentally active and

energetic, and must keep a constant watch upon himself.

Thoroughness is a step in the development of the will which cannot be passed over. Slipshod work is an

indication of weakness.

Perfection should be aimed at, even in the smallest task.

September Eleventh.

BY not dividing the mind, but giving the whole attention to each separate task as it presents itself,

singleness of purpose and intense concentration of mind are gradually gained—two mental powers

which give weight and worth of character, and bring repose and joy to their possessor.

Doing vigorously, and at once, whatever has to be done is equally important. Idleness and a strong will

cannot go together, and procrastination is a total barrier to the acquisition of purposeful action. Nothing

should be " put off " until another time, not even for a few minutes. That which ought to be done now

should be done now. This seems a little thing, but it is of far-reaching importance. It leads to strength,

success, and peace.

Live according to principle, and not according to passion.

Thoroughness consists in doing little things as though they were the greatest things in the world.

September Twelfth.

THAT the little things of lite are of primary importance is a truth not generally understood, and the

thought that little things can be neglected, thrown aside, or slurred over is at the root of that lack of

thoroughness which is so common, and which results in imperfect work and unhappy lives.

When one understands that the great things of the world and of life consist of a combination of small

things, and that without this aggregation of small things the great things would be non-existent, then he

begins to pay careful attention to those things which he formerly regarded as insignificant.

He who acquires the quality of thoroughness becomes a man of usefulness and influence.

The cause of the common lack of thoroughness lies in the thirst for pleasure.

September Thirteenth.

EVERY employer of labour knows how difficult it is to find men and women who will put thought and

energy into their work, and do it completely and satisfactorily. Bad workmanship abounds. Skill and

excellence are acquired by few. Thoughtlessness, carelessness, and laziness are such common vices that

it should cease to appear strange that, in spite of " social reform," the ranks of the unemployed should

continue to swell, for those who scamp their work to-day will, another day, in the hour of deep

necessity, look and ask for work in vain.

The law of " the survival of the fittest " is not based on cruelty, it is based on justice ; it is one aspect of

that divine equity which everywhere prevails. Vice is " beaten with many stripes " ; if it were not so,

how could virtue be developed ? The thoughtless and lazy cannot take precedence of, or stand equally

with, the thoughtful and industrious.

The mind that is occupied with pleasure cannot also be concentrated upon the perfect performance of

duty.

He who lacks thoroughness in his worldly duties will also lack the same in spiritual things.

September Fourteenth.

THOROUGHNESS is completeness, perfection ; it means doing a thing so well that there is nothing

left to be desired ; it means doing one‘s work, if not better than anyone else can do it, at least not worse

than the best that others do. It means the exercise of much thought, the putting forth of great energy, the

persistent application of the mind to its task, the cultivation of patience, perseverance, and a high sense

of duty. An ancient teacher said, "If anything has to be done, let a man do it, let him attack it vigorously

" ; and another teacher said, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."

It is better to be a whole-souled worldling than a halfhearted religionist.

He who has not learned how to be gentle, loving, and happy has learned very little.

September Fifteenth.

DESPONDENCY, irritability, anxiety, complaining, condemning, and grumbling—all these are

thought-cankers, mind-diseases ; they are the indications of a wrong mental condition, and those who

suffer therefrom would do well to remedy their thinking and conduct. It is true there is much sin and

misery in the world, so that all our love and compassion are needed, but our misery is not needed—

there is already too much of that. No, it is our cheerfulness and our happiness that are needed, for there

is too little of that. We can give nothing better to the world than beauty of life and character; without

this, all other things are vain ; this is pre-eminently excellent ; it is enduring, real, and not to be

overthrown, and it includes all joy and blessedness.

A man’s surroundings are never against him ; they are there to aid him.

You can transform everything around you if you will transform yourself

September Sixteenth.

UNBROKEN sweetness of conduct in the face of all outward antagonism is the infallible indication of

a self-conquered soul, the witness of wisdom, and the proof of the possession of Truth.

A sweet and happy soul is the ripened fruit of wisdom, and it sheds abroad the invisible aroma of its

influence, gladdening the hearts of others, and purifying the world.

If you would have others true, be true ; if you would have the world emancipated from misery and sin,

emancipate yourself; if you would have your home and your surroundings happy, be happy.

And this you will naturally and spontaneously do as you realise the good in yourself.

Commence to live free from all wrong and evil. Peace of mind and true reform lie this way.

Immortality is here and now, and is not a speculative something beyond the grave.

September Seventeenth.

IMMORTALITY does not belong to time, and will never be found in time : it belongs to Eternity ; and

just as time is here and now, so is Eternity here and now, and a man may find that Eternity and establish

himself in it, if he will overcome the self that derives its life from the unsatisfying and perishable things

of time.

Whilst a man remains immersed in sensation, desire, and the passing events of his day-by-day

existence, and regards those sensations, desires, and passing events as of the essence of himself, he can

have no knowledge of immortality. The thing which such a man desires, and which he mistakes for

immortality, is persistence ; that is, a continuous succession of sensations and events of time.

Persistence is the antithesis of immortality.

The death of the body can never bestow upon a man immortality.

September Eighteenth.

SPIRITS are not different from men, and live their little feverish life of broken consciousness, and are

still immersed in change and mortality. The mortal man, he who thirsts for the persistence of his

pleasure-loving personality, is still mortal after death, and only lives another life with a beginning and

an end, without memory of the past or knowledge of the future.

The immortal man is he who has detached himself from the things of time by having ascended into that

state of consciousness which is fixed and unvariable, and is not affected by passing events and

sensations. He is as one who has awakened out of his dream, and he knows that his dream was not an

enduring reality, but a passing illusion. He is a man with knowledge, the knowledge of both states—

that of persistence, and that of immortality.

The immortal man is in full possession of himself.

The mortal man lives in the time or world state of consciousness which begins and ends.

September Nineteenth.

THE immortal man remains poised and steadfast under all changes, and the death of his body will not

in any way interrupt the eternal consciousness in which he abides. Of such a one it is said, " He shall

not taste of death," because he has stepped out of the stream of mortality, and established himself in the

abode of Truth. Bodies, personalities, nations, and worlds pass away, but Truth remains, and its glory is

undimmed by time. The immortal man, then, is he who has conquered himself ; who no longer

identifies himself with the self-seeking forces of the personality, but who has trained himself to direct

those forces with the hand of a master, and so has brought them into harmony with the causal energy

and source of all things.

The immortal man lives in the cosmic or heaven state of consciousness, in which there is neither

beginning nor end, but an eternal now.

The overcoming of self is the annihilation of all the sorrow-producing elements.

September Twentieth.

THE doctrine of the overcoming or annihilation of self is simplicity itself; indeed, so simple, practical,

and close at hand is it that a child of five, whose mind has not yet become clouded with theories,

theological schemes, and speculative philosophies, would be far more likely to comprehend it than

many older people who have lost their hold upon simple and beautiful truths by the adoption of

complicated theories.

The annihilation of self consists in weeding out and destroying all those elements in the soul which

lead to division, strife, suffering, disease, and sorrow. It does not mean the destruction of any good and

beautiful and peace-producing quality.

The overcoming of self is the cultivation of all the divine qualities.

He who would overcome his enemy the tempter must discover his stronghold and place of concealment,

and must also find out the unguarded gates in his own fortress where the enemy effects so easy an

entrance.

September Twenty-first.

TEMPTATION, with all its attendant torments, can be overcome here and now, but it can only be

overcome with knowledge. It is a condition of darkness, or of semi-darkness. The fully enlightened

soul is proof against all temptation. When a man fully understands the source, nature, and meaning of

temptation, in that hour he will conquer it, and will rest from his long travail ; but whilst he remains in

ignorance, attention to religious observances and much praying and reading of Scripture will fail to

bring him peace.

This is the holy warfare of the saints.

All temptation comes from within.

September Twenty-second.

MEN fail to conquer, and the fight is indefinitely prolonged, because they labour, almost universally,

under two delusions ; first, that all temptations come from without ; and second, that they are tempted

because of their goodness. Whilst a man is held in bondage by these delusions, he will make no

progress ; when he has shaken them off, he will pass on rapidly from victory to victory, and will taste

of spiritual joy and rest.

The source and cause of all temptation is in the inward desire ; that being purified and eliminated,

outward objects and extraneous powers are utterly powerless to move the soul to sin or to temptation.

The outward object is merely the occasion of the temptation, never the cause ; this is in the desire of

the one tempted.

A man is tempted because there are certain desires or states of mind which he has come to regard as

unholy.

The good in a man is never tempted. Goodness destroys temptation.

September Twenty-third.

IT is the evil in a man that is aroused and tempted. The measure of a man‘s temptations is the exact

register of his own unholiness. As a man purifies his heart, temptation ceases, for when a certain

unlawful desire has been taken out of the heart the object which formerly appealed to it can no longer

do so, but becomes dead and powerless, for there is nothing left in the heart that can respond to it. The

honest man cannot be tempted to steal, let the occasion be ever so opportune ; the man of purified

appetites cannot be tempted to gluttony and drunkenness ; he whose mind is calm m the strength of

inward virtue can never be tempted to anger, and the wiles and charms of the wanton fall upon the

purified heart as empty, meaningless shadows.

Temptation shows a man just where he is.

The Great Law is good—the man of integrity is superior to fear, and failure, and poverty, and shame,

and disgrace.

September Twenty-fourth.

THE man who, fearing the loss of present pleasures or material comforts, denies the truth within him

can be injured, and robbed, and degraded, and trampled upon, because he has first injured, robbed, and

degraded, and trampled upon his own nobler self ; but the man of steadfast virtue, of unblemished

integrity, cannot be subject to such conditions, because he has denied the craven self within him and

has taken refuge in Truth. It is not the scourge and the chains which make a man a slave, but the fact

that he is a slave.

Slander, accusation, and malice cannot affect the righteous man, nor call from him any bitter response,

nor does he need to go about to defend himself and prove his innocence. Innocence and integrity alone

are a sufficient answer to all that hatred may attempt.

The man of integrity turns all evil things to good account.

September Twenty-fifth.

LET the man of integrity rejoice and be glad when he is severely tried ; let him be thankful that he has

been given an opportunity of proving his loyalty to the noble principles which he has espoused ; and let

him think, " Now is the hour of holy opportunity ! Now is the day of triumph lor Truth ! Though I lose

the whole world, I will not desert the right ! " So thinking, he will return good for evil, and will think

compassionately of the wrong-doer.

The slanderer, the backbiter, and the wrongdoer may seem to succeed for a time, but the Law of Justice

prevails ; the man of integrity may seem to fail for a time, but he is invincible, and in none of the

worlds, visible or invisible, can there be a forged weapon that shall prevail against him.

The man of integrity can never be subdued by the forces of darkness, having subdued all those forces

within himself.

Without discrimination a man is mentally blind.

September Twenty-sixth.

A MAN‘S mind and life should be free from confusion. He should be prepared to meet every mental,

material, and spiritual difficulty, and should not be intricately caught (as many are) in the meshes of

doubt, indecision, and uncertainty when troubles and so-called misfortunes come along. He should be

fortified against every emergency that can come against him ; but such mental preparedness and

strength cannot be attained in any degree without discrimination, and discrimination can only be

developed by bringing into play and constantly exercising the analytical faculty.

Mind, like muscle, is developed by use.

Confusion, suffering, and spiritual darkness follow the thoughtless.

September Twenty-seventh.

THE man who is afraid to think search-

ingly upon his opinions, and to reason

critically upon his position, will have

to develop moral courage before he

can acquire discrimination.

A man must be true to himself, fearless with himself, before he can perceive the pure principles of

Truth, before he can receive the all-revealing Light of Truth.

The more Truth is inquired of, the brighter it shines ; it cannot suffer under examination and analysis.

The more error is questioned, the darker it grows ; it cannot survive the entrance of pure and searching

thought.

To " prove all things " is to find the good and to throw away the evil.

He who reasons and meditates learns to discriminate ; he who discriminates discovers the eternally

True.

Harmony, blessedness, and the Light of Truth attend upon the thoughtful.

Belief is an attitude of mind determining the whole course of one’s life.

September Twenty-eighth.

BELIEF is the basis of all action, and, this being so, the belief which dominates the heart or mind is

shown in the life. Every man acts, thinks, lives in exact accordance with the belief which is rooted in

his innermost being, and such is the mathematical nature of the laws which govern mind that it is

absolutely impossible for anyone to believe in two opposing conditions at the same time. For instance,

it is impossible to believe in justice and injustice, hatred and love, peace and strife, self and truth. Every

man believes in one or the other of these opposites, never in both, and the daily conduct of every man

indicates the nature of his belief.

Belief and conduct are inseparable, for the one determines the other.

Justice reigns, and all that is called injustice is fleeting and illusory.

September Twenty-ninth.

THE man who is continually getting enraged over the injustice of his fellow men, who talks about

himself being badly treated, or who mourns over the lack of justice in the world around him, shows by

his conduct, his attitude of mind, that he believes in injustice. However he may protest to the contrary,

in his inmost heart he believes that confusion and chaos are dominant in the universe, the result being

that he dwells in misery and unrest, and his conduct is faulty.

Again, he who believes in love, in its stability and power, practises it under all circumstances, never

deviates from it, and bestows it alike upon enemies as upon friends.

The man who believes in justice remains calm through all trials and difficulties.

Every thought, every act, every habit, is the direct outcome of belief.

September Thirtieth.

MEN are saved from error by belief in the supremacy of Truth. They are saved from sin by belief in

Holiness or Perfection. They are saved from evil by belief in Good, for every belief is manifested in the

life. It is not necessary to inquire as to a man‘s theological belief, for that is of little or no account, for

what can it avail a man to believe that Jesus died for him, or that Jesus is God, or that he is " justified

by faith," if he continues to live in his lower, sinful nature ? All that is necessary to ask is this : " How

does a man live? " " How does he conduct himself under trying circumstances ? " The answer to these

questions will show whether a man believes in the power of evil or in the power of Good.

When our belief in a thing ceases, we can no longer cling to or practise it.

A man cannot cling to anything unless he believes in it ; belief always precedes action, therefore a

man’s deeds and life are the fruits of his belief.

October First.

HE who believes in all those things that

are good will love them, and live in

them , he who believes in those things

that are impure and selfish will love

them, and cling to them. The tree is known by

its fruits.

A man‘s beliefs about God, Jesus, and the Bible are one thing , his life, as bound up in his actions, is

another , therefore a man‘s theological belief is of no consequence , but the thoughts which he

harbours, his attitude of mind towards others, and his actions—these, and these only, determine and

demonstrate whether the belief of a man‘s heart is fixed in the false or the true.

There are only two beliefs which vitally affect the life, and they are : belief in good and belief in evil.

As the fruit to the tree and the water to the spring, so is action to thought.

October Second.

THE sudden falling, when greatly tempted, into some grievous sin by one who was believed, and who

believed himself, to stand firm, is seen neither to be a sudden nor a causeless thing when the hidden

processes of thought which led up to it are revealed. The falling was merely the end, the outworking,

the finished result of what commenced in the mind probably years before. The man had allowed a

wrong thought to enter his mind ; and a second and a third time he had welcomed it, and allowed it to

nestle in his heart. Gradually he became accustomed to it, and cherished and fondled, and tended it; and

so it grew until at last it attained such strength and force that it attracted to itself the opportunity which

enabled it to burst forth and ripen into act.

All sin and temptation are the natural outcome of the thoughts of the individual.

Guard well your thoughts, reader, for what you really are in your secret thoughts to-day you will

become in actual deed.

October Third.

THERE is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed," and every thought that is harboured in the mind

must, by virtue of the impelling force which is inherent in the universe, at last blossom into act good or

bad, according to its nature. The divine Teacher and the sensualist are both the product of their own

thoughts, and have become what they are as the result of the seeds of thought which they have

implanted, or allowed to fall, into the garden of the heart, and have afterwards watered, tended, and

cultivated.

Let no man think he can overcome sin and temptation by wrestling with opportunity ; he can only

overcome them by purifying his thoughts.

A man can only attract that to him which is in harmony with his nature.

As a being of thought, your dominant mental attitude will determine your condition in life.

October Fourth.

YOU are the thinker of your thoughts, and as such you are the maker of your self and condition.

Thought is causal and creative, and appears in your character and life in the form of results. There are

no accidents in your life. Both its harmonies and antagonisms are the responsive echoes of your

thoughts. A man thinks, and his life appears.

If your dominant mental attitude is peaceable and lovable, bliss and blessedness will follow you ; if it

be resistant and hateful, trouble and distress will cloud your pathway. Out of ill-will will come grief

and disaster ; out of good-will, healing and reparation.

The boundary lines of your thoughts are self-erected fences.

Pain, grief, sorrow, and misery are the fruits of which passion is the flower.

October Fifth.

WHERE the passion-bound soul sees only injustice, the good man, he who has conquered passion, sees

cause and effect, sees the Supreme Justice. It is impossible for such a man to regard himself as treated

unjustly, because he has ceased to see injustice. He knows that no one can injure or cheat him, having

ceased to injure or cheat himself. However passionately or ignorantly men may act towards him, it

cannot possibly cause him any pain, for he knows that whatever comes to him (it may be abuse and

persecution) can only come as the effect of what he himself has formerly sent out. He therefore regards

all things as good, rejoices m all things, loves his enemies, blesses them that curse him, regarding them

as the blind but beneficent instruments by which he is enabled to pay his moral debts to the Great Law.

The Supreme Justice and the Supreme Love are one.

The history of a nation is the building of its deeds.

October Sixth.

AS a body is built of cells, and a house of bricks, so a man‘s mind is built of thoughts. The various

characters of men are none other than compounds of thoughts of varying combinations. Herein we see

the deep truth of the saying, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Individual characteristics are

fixed processes of thought; that is, they are fixed in the sense that they have become an integral part of

the character, that they can be only altered or removed by a protracted effort of the will, and by much

self-discipline. Character is built in the same way as a tree or a house is built—namely, by the ceaseless

addition of new material, and that material is thought. By the aid of millions of bricks a city is built; by

the aid of millions of thoughts a character, a mind, is built.

Every man is a mind-builder.

October Seventh.

PURE thoughts, wisely chosen and well placed, are so many durable bricks which will never crumble

away, and from which a finished and beautiful building, and one which affords comfort and shelter for

its possessor, can be rapidly erected. Bracing thoughts of strength, of confidence, of duty ; inspiring

thoughts of a large, free, unfettered, and unselfish life, are useful bricks with which a substantial mind-

temple can be raised ; and the building of such a temple necessitates that old and useless habits of

thought be broken down and destroyed.

" Build thee more stately mansions, 0 my soul, As the swift seasons roll."

Each man is the builder of himself.

Working in harmony with the fundamental laws of the universe.

October Eighth.

IF a man is to build up a successful strong, and exemplary life—a life that will stoutly resist the fiercest

storms of adversity and temptation—it must be framed on a few, simple, undeviating moral principles.

Four of these principles are : Justice, Rectitude, Sincerity, and Kindness. These four ethical truths are to

the making of a life what the four lines of a square are to the building of a house. If a man ignores them

and thinks to obtain success and happiness by injustice, trickery, and selfishness, he is in the position of

a builder who imagines he can build a strong and durable habitation while ignoring the relative

arrangement of mathematical lines, and he will, in the end, obtain only disappointment and failure.

Build like a true workman.

It is a common error to suppose that little things can be passed by, and that the greater things are more

important.

October Ninth.

HE who adopts the four ethical principles as the law and base of his life, who raises the edifice of

character upon them, who in his thoughts and words and actions does not wander from them, whose

every duty and every passing transaction is performed in strict accordance with their exactions, such a

man, laying down the hidden foundations of integrity of heart securely and strongly, cannot fail to raise

up a structure which shall bring him honour ; and he is building a temple in which he can repose in

peace and blessedness —even the strong and beautiful Temple of his life.

He who would have a life secure and blessed must carry the practice of the moral principles into every

detail of it.

When aspiration is united to concentration, the result is meditation.

October Tenth.

WHEN a man intensely desires to reach and realise a higher, purer, and more radiant life than the

merely worldly and pleasure-loving life, he engages in aspiration ; and when he earnestly concentrates

his thoughts upon the finding of that life, he practises meditation.

Without intense aspiration there can be no meditation. Lethargy and indifference are fatal to its

practice. The more intense the nature of the man, the more readily will he find meditation and the more

successfully will he practise it. A fiery nature will most rapidly scale the heights of Truth in meditation,

when its aspirations have become sufficiently awakened.

Meditation is necessary to spiritual success.

When a man aspires to know and realise the Truth, he gives attention to conduct, to self-purification.

October Eleventh.

BY concentration a man can scale the highest heights of genius, but he cannot scale the heavenly

heights of Truth ; to accomplish this he must meditate. By concentration a man may acquire the

wonderful comprehension and vast power of a Caesar ; by meditation he may reach the divine wisdom

and perfect peace of a Buddha. The perfection of concentration is power ; the perfection of meditation

is wisdom. By concentration men acquire skill in the doing of the things of life—in science, art, trade,

etc.—but by meditation they acquire skill in life itself ; in right living, enlightenment, wisdom, etc.

Saints, sages, saviours—wise men and divine teachers— are the finished products of holy meditation.

Love Truth so fully and intensely as to become wholly absorbed in it.

The object of meditation is divine enlightenment, Man is a thought-being, and his life and character are

determined by the thoughts in which he habitually dwells.

October Twelfth.

WHILE, at first, the time spent in actual meditation is short—perhaps only half an hour in the early

morning—the knowledge gained in that half-hour of vivid aspiration and concentrated thought is

embodied in practice during the whole day. In meditation, therefore, the entire life of a man is involved

; and as he advances in its practice he becomes more and more fitted to perform the duties of life in the

circumstances in which he may be placed, for he becomes stronger, holier, calmer, and wiser.

The principle of meditation is twofold, namely:

1. Purification of the heart by repetitive

thought on pure things. 2. Attainment of divine knowledge by embodying such purity in practical life.

By practice, association, and habit, thoughts tend to repeat themselves.

October Thirteenth.

BY daily dwelling upon pure thoughts, the man of meditation forms the habit of pure and enlightened

thinking which leads to pure and enlightened actions and well-performed duties. By the ceaseless

repetition of pure thoughts, he at last becomes one with those thoughts, and is a purified being,

manifesting his attainment in pure actions, in a serene and wise life.

The majority of men live in a series of conflicting desires, passions, emotions, and speculations, and

there are restlessness, uncertainty, and sorrow ; but when a man begins to train his mind in meditation,

he gradually gains control over this inward conflict by bringing his thoughts to a focus upon a central

principle.

It is easy to mistake reverie for meditation.

Selfishness, the root of the tree of evil and of all suffering, derives its nourishment from the dark soil of

ignorance.

October Fourteenth.

THE rich and the poor alike suffer for their own selfishness ; and none escape. The rich have their

particular sufferings as well as the poor. Moreover, the rich are continually losing their riches ; the poor

are continually acquiring them. The poor man of to-day is the rich man of to-morrow, and vice versa.

Fear, also, follows men like a great shadow, for the man who obtains and holds by selfish force will

always be haunted by a feeling of insecurity, and will continually fear its loss ; whilst the poor man,

who is selfishly seeking or coveting material riches, will be harassed by the fear of destitution. And one

and all who live in this under-world of strife are overshadowed by one great fear—the fear of death.

Each individual suffers by virtue of his own selfishness.

The spirit is strengthened and renewed by meditation upon spiritual things.

October Fifteenth.

A MAN must pass through three Gateways of Surrender. The first is the Surrender of Desire ; the

second is the Surrender of Opinion ; the third is the Surrender of Self. Entering into meditation, he will

commence to examine his desires, tracing them out in his mind, and following up their effects in his

life and upon his character ; and he will quickly perceive that, without the renunciation of desire, a man

remains a slave both to himself and to his surroundings and circumstances. Having discovered this, the

first Gate, that of the Surrender of Desire, is entered. Passing through this Gate, he adopts a process of

self-discipline which is the first step in the purification of the soul.

The lamp of faith must be continually fed and assiduously trimmed.

The loss of to-day will add to the gain of to-morrow for him whose mind is set on the conquest of self.

October Sixteenth.

LET a man, therefore, press on courageously, heeding neither the revilings of his friends without, nor

the clamourings of his enemies within; aspiring, searching, striving; looking ever towards his Ideal with

eyes of holy love ; day by day ridding his mind of selfish motive, his heart of impure desire ; stumbling

sometimes, sometimes falling, but ever travelling onward and rising higher ; and recording each night

in the silence of his own heart the journey of the day, let him not despair if but each day, in spite of all

its failures and falls, records some holy battle fought, though lost, some silent victory attempted,

though unachieved.

Learn to distinguish between the real and the unreal, the shadow and the substance.

Acquire the priceless possession of spiritual discernment.

October Seventeenth.

CLOTHING his soul with the colourless Garment of Humility, a man bends all his energies to the

uprooting of those opinions which he has hitherto loved and cherished. He now learns to distinguish

between Truth, which is one and unchangeable, and his own and others‘ opinions about Truth, which

are many and changeable. He sees that his opinions about Goodness, Purity, Compassion, and Love, are

very distinct from those qualities themselves, and that he must stand upon those divine Principles, and

not on his own opinions. Hitherto he has regarded his own opinions as of great value, but now he

ceases so to elevate his own opinions, and to defend them against those of others, and comes to regard

them as utterly worthless.

Stand upon the divine Principles of Purity, Wisdom, Compassion, and Love.

Find the Divine Centre within.

October Eighteenth.

HE who resolves that he will not rest satisfied with appearances, shadows, illusions shall, by the

piercing light of that resolve, disperse every fleeting phantasy, and shall enter into the substance and

reality of life. He shall learn how to live, and he shall live. He shall be the slave of no passion, the

servant of no opinion, the votary of no fond error. Finding the Divine Centre within his own heart, he

shall be pure and calm and strong and wise, and will ceaselessly radiate the Heavenly Life in which he

lives—which is himself.

Not to know that within you that is changeless, and defiant of time and death, is not to know anything,

but is to play vainly with unsubstantial reflections in the Mirror of Time.

Having betaken himself to the Divine Refuge within, and remaining there, a man is free from sin. No

doubt shall shake his trust, no uncertainty shall rob him of repose.

October Nineteenth.

MEN love their desires, for gratification seems sweet to them, hut its end is pain and vacuity; they love

the argumentations of the intellect, for egotism seems most desirable to them, but the fruits thereof are

humiliation and sorrow. When the soul has reached the end of gratification and reaped the bitter fruits

of egotism, it is ready to receive the Divine Wisdom and to enter into the Divine Life. Only the

crucified can be transfigured ; only by the death of self can the Lord of the heart rise again into the

Immortal Life, and stand radiant upon the Olivet of Wisdom.

Where self is not, there is the Garden of the Heavenly Life.

Life is more than motion, it is Music; more than rest, it is Peace ; more than work, it is Duty ; more

than labour, it is Love.

October Twentieth.

LET the impure turn to Purity, and they shall be pure; let the weak resort to Strength, and they shall be

strong; let the ignorant fly to Knowledge, and they shall be wise. All things are man‘s, and he chooses

that which he will have. To-day he chooses in ignorance, to-morrow he shall choose in wisdom. He

shall " work out his own salvation," whether he believe it or not, for he cannot escape himself, nor

transfer to another the eternal responsibility of his own soul. By no theological subterfuge shall he trick

the Law of his being, which shall shatter all his selfish makeshifts and excuses for right thinking and

right doing. Nor shall God do for him that which it is destined his soul shall accomplish for itself.

Life is more than enjoyment, it is Blessedness.

He who would find Blessedness, let him find himself.

October Twenty-first.

MEN fly from creed to creed, and find unrest; they travel in many lands, and discover—

disappointment; they build themselves beautiful mansions, and plant pleasant gardens, and reap—ennui

and discomfort. Not until a man falls back upon the Truth within himself does he find rest and

satisfaction ; not until he builds the inward Mansion of Faultless Conduct does he find the endless and

incorruptible Joy, and, having obtained that, he will infuse it into all his doings and possessions.

When a man can no longer carry the weight of his many sins, let him fly to the Christ, whose throne is

the centre of his own heart, and he shall become light-hearted, entering the glad company of the

Immortals.

The spiritual Heart of man is the Heart of the universe.

All power, all possibility, all action is now.

October Twenty-second.

WHILST a man is dwelling upon the past or future he is missing the present ; he is forgetting to live

now. All things are possible now, and only now. Without wisdom to guide him, and mistaking the

unreal for the real, a man says, " If I had done so-and-so last week, last month, or last year, it would

have been better with me to-day"; or, " I know what is best to be done, and I will do it to-morrow." The

selfish cannot comprehend the vast importance and value of the present, and fail to see it as the

substantial reality of which past and future are the empty reflections. It may truly be said that past and

future do not exist except as negative shadows, and to live in them—that is, in the regretful and selfish

contemplation of them —is to miss the reality in life.

To put away regret, to anchor anticipation, to do and work now, this is wisdom.

Virtue consists in fighting sin day after day,

October Twenty-third.

CEASE to tread every byway of dependence, every winding side way that tempts thy soul into the

shadowland of the past and the future, and manifest thy native and divine strength now. Come out into

" the open road."

That which you would be, and hope to be, you may be now. Non-accomplishment resides in your

perpetual postponement, and, having the power to postpone, you also have the power to accomplish—

to perpetually accomplish ; realise this truth, and you shall be to-day, and every day, the ideal man of

whom you dreamed.

Act now, and lo ! all things are done; live now, and behold ! thou art in the midst of Plenty ; be now,

and know that thou art perfect.

Holiness consists in leaving sin, unnoticed and ignored, to die by the wayside.

Say not unto thy soul, " Thou shalt be purer tomorrow " ; but rather say, " Thou shalt be pure now."

October Twenty-fourth.

TO-MORROW is too late for anything, and he who sees help and salvation in to-morrow shall

continually fail and fall to-day. Thou didst fall yesterday ! Didst sin grievously ! Having realised this,

leave it instantly and forever, and watch that thou sinnest not now. The while thou art bewailing the

past every gate of thy soul remains unguarded against the entrance of sin now.

The foolish man, loving the boggy side of procrastination rather than the firm highway of Present

Effort, says, " I will rise early tomorrow ; I will get out of debt to-morrow ; I will carry out my

intentions to-morrow," But the wise man, realising the momentous import of the Eternal Now, rises

early to-day ; keeps out of debt to-day ; carries out his intentions to-day ; and so never departs from

strength and peace and ripe accomplishment.

Thou shalt not rise by grieving over the irremediable past, but by remedying the present.

Looking back to happy beginnings, and forward to mournful endings, a man’s eyes are blinded so that

he beholds not his own immortality.

October Twenty-fifth.

IT is wisdom to leave that which has not arrived, and to attend to that which is ; and to attend to it with

such a consecration of soul and concentration of effort as shall leave no loophole for regret to creep in.

A man‘s spiritual comprehension being clouded by the illusions of self, he says, " I was born on such a

day, so many years ago, and shall die at my allotted time." But he was not born, neither will he die, for

how can that which is immortal, which eternally is, be subject to birth and death? Let a man throw off

his illusions, and then he will see that the birth and death of the body are the mere incidents of a

journey, and not its beginning and end.

The universe, with all that it contains, is now.

Let a man put away egotism, and he will see the universe in all the beauty of its pristine simplicity.

October Twenty-sixth.

LET life cease to be lived as a fragmentary thing, and let it be lived as a perfect Whole; the simplicity

of the Perfect will then be revealed. How shall the fragment comprehend the Whole ? Yet how simple

that the Whole should comprehend the fragment. How shall sin perceive Holiness ? Yet how plain that

Holiness should understand sin. He who would become the Greater let him abandon the lesser. In no

form is the circle contained, but in the circle all forms are contained. In no colour is the radiant light

imprisoned, but in the radiant light all colours are embodied. Let a man destroy all the forms of self,

and he shall apprehend the Circle of Perfection.

When a man succeeds in entirely forgetting (annihilating) his personal self, he becomes a mirror in

which the universal Reality is faultlessly reflected.

In the perfect chord of music the single note, though forgotten, is indispensably contained, and the drop

of water becomes of supreme usefulness by losing itself in the ocean.

October Twenty-seventh.

SINK thyself compassionately in the heart of humanity, and thou shalt reproduce the harmonies of

Heaven ; lose thyself in unlimited love toward all, and thou shalt work enduring works and shalt

become one with the eternal Ocean of Bliss.

Man evolves outward to the periphery of complexity, and then involves backward to the Central

Simplicity. When a man discovers that it is mathematically impossible for him to know the universe

before knowing himself, he then starts upon the Way which leads to Original Simplicity. He begins to

unfold from within, and as he unfolds himself, he enfolds the universe.

Cease to speculate about God, and find the all-embracing Good within thee.

The pure man knows himself as pure being.

October Twenty-eighth.

HE who will not give up his secret lust, his covetousness, his anger, his opinion about this or that, can

see nor know nothing; he will remain a dullard in the school of Wisdom, though he be accounted

learned in the colleges.

If a man would find the key of Knowledge, let him find himself. Thy sins are not thyself ; they are not

any part of thyself ; they are diseases which thou hast come to love. Cease to cling to them, and they

will no longer cling to thee. Let them fall away, and thyself shall stand revealed. Thou shalt know

thyself as Comprehensive Vision, Invincible Principle, Immortal Life, and Eternal Good.

Purity is extremely simple, and needs no argument to support it.

Truth lives itself.

October Twenty-ninth.

MEEKNESS, Patience, Love, Compassion, and Wisdom—these are the dominant qualities of Original

Simplicity ; therefore the imperfect cannot understand it. Wisdom only can apprehend Wisdom,

therefore the fool says, " No man is wise." The imperfect man says, " No man can be perfect," and he

therefore remains where he is. Though he live with a perfect man all his life, he shall not behold his

perfection. Meekness he will call cowardice ; Patience, Love, Compassion he will see as weakness ;

and Wisdom will appear to him as folly. Faultless discrimination belongs to the Perfect Whole, and

resides not in any part, therefore men are exhorted to refrain from judgment until they have themselves

manifested the Perfect Life.

A blameless life is the only witness of Truth.

He who has found the indwelling Reality of his own being has found the original and universal Reality.

October Thirtieth.

KNOWING the Divine Heart within, all hearts are known, and the thoughts of all men become his who

has become master of his own thoughts ; therefore the good man does not defend himself, but moulds

the minds of others to his own likeness.

As the problematical transcends crudity, so Pure Goodness transcends the problematical. All problems

vanish when Pure Goodness is reached ; therefore the Good man is called " The Slayer of illusions."

What problem can vex where sin is not ? O thou who strivest loudly and resteth not ! retire into the

holy silence of thine own being, and live therefrom. So shalt thou, finding Pure Goodness, rend in

twain the Veil of the Temple of Illusion, and shalt enter into the Patience, Peace, and transcendent

Glory of the Perfect, for Pure Goodness and Original Simplicity are one.

So extremely simple is Original Simplicity that a man must let go his hold of everything before he can

perceive it.

Great will be his pain and unrest who seeks to stand upon the approbation of others.

October Thirty-first.

TO detach oneself from every outward thing, and to rest securely upon the

inward virtue, this is the Unfailing Wisdom. Having this Wisdom, a

man will be the same whether in riches or poverty. The one cannot add to his strength, nor the other rob

him of his serenity. Neither can riches defile him who has washed away all the inward defilement, nor

the lack of them degrade him who has ceased to degrade the temple of his soul.

To refuse to be enslaved by any outward thing or happening, regarding all such things and happenings

as for your use, for your education, this is Wisdom. To the wise all occurrences are good, and, having

no eye for evil, they grow wiser every day. They utilise all things, and thus put all things under their

feet. They see all their mistakes as soon as made, and accept them as lessons of intrinsic value,

knowing that there are no mistakes in the Divine Order.

To love where one is not loved ; herein lies the strength which shall never fail a man.

The wise man is always anxious to learn, but never anxious to teach.

November First.

ALL strength and wisdom and power and knowledge a man will find within himself, but he will not

find it in egotism; he will only find it in obedience, submission, and willingness to learn. He must obey

the higher and not glorify himself in the lower. He who stands upon egotism, rejecting reproof,

instruction, and the lessons of experience, will surely fall; yea, he is already fallen. Said a great teacher

to his disciples, " Those who shall be a lamp unto themselves, relying upon themselves only, and not

relying upon any external help, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and, seeking their salvation

in the Truth alone, shall not look for assistance to any beside themselves, it is they among my disciples

who shall reach the very topmost height ! But they must be willing to learn." The true Teacher is in the

heart of every man.

Dispersion is weakness ; concentration is power.

November Second.

THINGS are useful and thoughts are powerful in the measure that their parts are strongly and

intelligently concentrated. Purpose is highly concentrated thought. All the mental energies are directed

to the attainment of an object, and obstacles which intervene between the thinker and the object are,

one after another, broken down and overcome. Purpose is the keystone in the temple of achievement. It

binds and holds together in a complete whole that which would otherwise lie scattered and useless.

Empty whims, ephemeral fancies, vague desires, and half-hearted resolutions have no place in purpose.

In the sustained determination to accomplish there is an invincible power which swallows up all

inferior considerations and marches direct to victory.

All successful men are men of purpose.

Know this—thou makest and unmakest thyself.

November Third.

DOUBT, anxiety, and worry are unsubstantial shades in the underworld of self, and shall no more

trouble him who will climb the serene altitudes of his soul. Grief, also, will be for ever dispelled by him

who will comprehend the Law of his being. He who so comprehends shall find the Supreme Law of

Life, and he shall find that it is Love, that it is imperishable Love. He shall become one with Love, and

loving all, with mind freed from all hatred and folly, he shall receive the invincible protection which

Love affords. Claiming nothing, he shall suffer no loss ; seeking no pleasure, he shall find no grief; and

employing all his powers as instruments of service, he shall evermore live in the highest state of

blessedness and bliss.

Thou art a slave if thou preferrest to be ; thou art a master if thou wilt make thyself one.

He who has found Meekness has found divinity.

November Fourth.

THE mountain bends not to the fiercest storm, but it shields the fledgling and the lamb ; and though all

men tread upon it, yet it protects them, and bears them up upon its deathless bosom. Even so is it with

the meek man who, though shaken and disturbed by none, yet compassionately bends to shield the

lowliest creature, and, though he may be despised, lifts up all men, and lovingly protects them.

As glorious as the mountain in its silent might is the divine man in his silent Meekness ; like its form,

his loving compassion is expansive and sublime. Truly his body, like the mountain‘s base, is fixed in

the valleys and the mists ; but the summit of his being is eternally bathed in cloudless glory, and lives

with the Silence.

The meek man has realised the divine consciousness and knows himself as divine.

He who lives in Meekness is without fear, knowing the Highest, and having the lowest under his feet.

November Fifth.

THE meek man shines in darkness, and flourishes in obscurity. Meekness cannot boast, nor advertise

itself, nor thrive on popularity. It is practised, and is seen and not seen ; being a spiritual quality it is

perceived only by the eye of the spirit. Those who are not spiritually awakened see it not, nor do they

love it, being enamoured of, and blinded by, worldly shows and appearances. Nor does history take

note of the meek man. Its glory is that of strife and self-aggrandisement ; his is the glory of peace and

gentleness. History chronicles the earthly, not the heavenly acts. Yet though he lives in obscurity, he

cannot be hidden (how can light be hid?) ; he continues to shine after he has withdrawn himself from

the world, and is worshipped by the world which knew him not.

The meek man is found in the time of trial; when other men fall he stands.

The meek man resists none, and thereby conquers all.

November Sixth.

HE who imagines he can be injured by others, and who seeks to justify and defend himself against

them, does not understand Meekness, does not comprehend the essence and meaning of life. " He

abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me. In those who harbour such thoughts hatred will

never cease ... for hatred ceases not by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love." What sayest thou?

Thy neighbour has spoken thee falsely ? Well, what of that ? Can a falsity hurt thee ? That which is

false is false, and there is an end of it. It is without life, and without power to hurt any but him who

seeks to be hurt by it. It is nothing to thee that thy neighbour should speak falsely of thee, but it is much

to thee that thou shouldst resist him, and seek to justify thyself, for, by so doing, thou givest life and

vitality to thy neighbour‘s falseness, so that thou art injured and distressed.

Take all evil out of thine own heart, then shalt thou see the folly of resisting it in another.

Great is the power of purpose.

November Seventh.

PURPOSE goes with intelligence.

There are lesser and greater purposes,

according with degrees of intelligence.

A great mind will always be great of purpose. A weak intelligence will be without purpose. A drifting

mind argues a measure of undevelopment.

The men who have moulded the destinies of humanity have been men mighty of purpose. Like the

Roman laying his road, they have followed along a well-defined path, and have refused to swerve aside

even when torture and death confronted them. The Great Leaders of the race are the mental road-

makers, and mankind follows in the intellectual and spiritual paths which they have carved out and

beaten.

Inert matter yields to a living force, and circumstance succumbs to the power of purpose.

All things at last yield to the silent, irresistible all-conquering energy of purpose.

November Eighth.

THE weak man, who grieves because he is misunderstood, will not greatly achieve; the vain man, who

steps aside from his resolve in order to please others and gain their approbation, will not highly achieve

; the double-minded man, who thinks to compromise his purpose, will fail. The man of fixed purpose

who, whether misunderstandings and foul accusations, or flatteries and fair promises, rain upon him,

does not yield a fraction of his resolve is the man of excellence and achievement; of success, greatness,

and power.

Hindrances stimulate a man of purpose; difficulties nerve him to renewed exertion; mistakes, losses,

pains, do not subdue him ; and failures are steps in the ladder of success, for he is ever conscious of the

certainty of final achievement.

The intensity of the purpose increases with the growing magnitude of the obstacles encountered.

Joy is always the accompaniment of a task successfully accomplished.

November Ninth.

OF all miserable men, the shirker is the most miserable. Thinking to find ease and happiness in

avoiding difficult tasks, which require the expenditure of labour and exertion, his mind is always

uneasy and disturbed, he becomes burdened with an inward sense of shame, and forfeits manliness and

self-respect. " He who will not work according to his faculty, let him perish according to his necessity,"

says Carlyle ; and it is a moral law that the man who avoids duty, and does not work to the full extent

of his capacity, does actually perish, first in his character, and last in his body and circumstances. Life

and action are synonymous, and immediately a man tries to escape exertion, either physical or mental,

he has commenced to decay.

An undertaking completed, or a piece of work done, always brings rest and satisfaction.

The price of life is effort.

November Tenth.

EVERY successful accomplishment, even in worldly things, is repaid with its own measure of joy; and

in spiritual things the joy which supervenes upon the perfection of purpose is sure, deep, and abiding.

Great is the heartfelt joy (albeit ineffable) when, after innumerable and apparently unsuccessful

attempts, some ingrained fault of character is at last cast out, to trouble its erstwhile victim and the

world no more. The striver after virtue—he who is engaged in the holy task of building up a noble

character—tastes, at every step of conquest over self, a joy which does not leave him again, but which

becomes an integral part of his spiritual nature.

The reward of accomplishment is joy.

Everything that happens is just.

November Eleventh.

AS you think, you travel ; as you love, you attract. You are to-day where your thoughts have brought

you; you will be to-morrow where your thoughts take you. You cannot escape the results of your

thoughts, but you can endure and learn, can accept and be glad.

You will always come to the place where your love (your most abiding and intense thought) can receive

its measure of gratification. If your love be base, you will come to a base place ; if it be beautiful, you

will come to a beautiful place.

You can alter your thoughts, and so alter your condition. You are powerful, not powerless.

Nothing is fated, everything is formed.

The man whose thoughts, words, and acts are sincere is surrounded by sincere friends ; the insincere

man is surrounded by insincere friends.

November Twelfth.

EVERY fact and process in Nature contains a moral lesson for the wise man. There is no law in the

world which is not to be found operating with the same mathematical certainty in the mind of man and

in human life. All the parables of Jesus are illustrative of this truth, and are drawn from the simple facts

of Nature. There is a process of seed-sowing in the mind and life, a spiritual sowing which leads to a

harvest according to the kind of seed sown. Thoughts, words, and acts are seeds sown, and, by the

inviolable law of things, they produce after their kind.

The man who thinks hateful thoughts brings hatred upon himself. The man who thinks loving thoughts

is loved.

When you know yourself you will perceive that every event in your life is weighed in the faultless

balance of equity.

He who would be blessed, let him scatter blessings.

November Thirteenth.

THE farmer must scatter all his seed upon the land, and then leave it to the elements. Were he to

covetously hoard his seed, he would lose both it and his produce, for his seed would perish. It perishes

when he sows it, but in perishing it brings forth a greater abundance. So in life, we get by giving ; we

grow rich by scattering. The man who says he is in possession of knowledge which he cannot give out

because the world is incapable of receiving it either does not possess such knowledge, or, if he does,

will soon be deprived of it—if he is not already deprived of it. To hoard is to lose ; to exclusively retain

is to be dispossessed.

He who would be happy, let him consider the happiness of others.

Men reap that which they sow.

November Fourteenth.

IF a man is troubled, perplexed, sorrowful, or unhappy, let him ask :

" What mental seeds have I been sowing? " " What seeds am I sowing? " " What is my attitude towards

others? " " What seeds of trouble and sorrow and unhappiness have I sown that I should thus reap these

bitter weeds ? "

Let him seek within and find, and having found, let him abandon all the seeds of self, and sow,

henceforth, only the seeds of Truth.

Let him learn of the farmer the simple truths of wisdom, and sow broadcast the seeds of kindness,

gentleness, and love.

The way to obtain peace and blessedness is to scatter peaceful and blessed thoughts, words, and deeds.

Destroying the idols of self, we draw nearer to the great, silent Heart of Love.

November Fifteenth.

WE have reached one of those epochs in the world‘s progress which witnesses the passing of the false

gods ; the gods of human selfishness and human illusion. The new-old revelation of one universal

impersonal Truth has again dawned upon the world, and its searching light has carried consternation to

the perishable gods who take shelter under the shadow of self.

Men have lost faith in a god who can be cajoled, who rules arbitrarily and capriciously, subverting the

whole order of things to gratify the wishes of his worshippers, and are turning, with a new light in their

hearts, to the God of Law. And to Him they turn, not for personal happiness and gratification, but for

knowledge, for understanding, for wisdom, for liberation from the bondage of self.

Enter the Path of obedience to the Law.

Perfection, which is knowledge of the Perfect Law, is ready for all who earnestly seek it.

November Sixteenth.

ENTERING that Path—the Path of the Supreme Law—men no longer accuse, no longer doubt, no

longer fret and despond, for they know now that God is right, the universal laws are right, the cosmos is

right, and that they themselves are wrong, if wrong there is, and that their salvation depends upon

themselves, upon their own efforts, upon their personal acceptance of that which is good, and deliberate

rejection of that which is evil. No longer merely hearers, they become doers of the Word, and they

acquire knowledge, they receive understanding, they grow in wisdom, and they enter into the glorious

life of liberation from the bondage of self.

Adopt the life of self-obliteration.

God does not alter for man, for this would mean that the perfect must become imperfect; man must

alter for God.

November Seventeenth.

THE Children of Truth are in the world to-day; they are thinking, writing, speaking, acting ; yea, even

prophets are amongst us, and their influence is pervading the whole earth. An undercurrent of holy joy

is gathering force in the world, so that men and women are moved with new aspirations and hopes, and

even those who neither see nor hear, feel within them strange yearnings after a better and fuller life.

The Law reigns, and it reigns in men‘s hearts and lives ; they have come to understand the reign of Law

who have sought out the Tabernacle of the true God by the fair pathway of unselfishness.

The Law cannot be broken for man, otherwise confusion would ensue ; this is in accordance with

harmony, order, justice.

There is no more painful bondage than to be at the mercy of one’s inclinations.

November Eighteenth.

THE Law is that the heart shall be purified, the mind regenerated, and the whole being brought in

subjection to Love, till self be dead and Love is all in all, for the reign of Law is the reign of Love. And

Love waits for all, rejecting none. Love may be claimed and entered into now, for it is the heritage of

all.

Ah, beautiful Truth ! To know that now man may accept his divine heritage, and enter the Kingdom of

Heaven !

Oh, pitiful error ! To know that man rejects it because of love of self !

Obedience to one‘s selfish inclinations means the drawing about one‘s soul clouds of pain and sorrow

which darken the light of Truth ; the shutting out of oneself from all real blessedness ; for " whatsoever

a man sows that shall he also reap."

There is no greater liberty than utmost obedience to the Law of Being.

The moral universe is sustained and protected by the perfect balance of its equivalents.

November Nineteenth.

IS there, then, no injustice in the universe ? There is injustice, and there is not. It depends upon the kind

of life and the state of consciousness from which a man looks out upon the world and judges. The man

who lives in his passions sees injustice everywhere ; the man who has overcome his passions, sees the

operations of Justice in every department of human life.

Injustice is the confused feverish dream of passion, real enough to those who are dreaming it; Justice is

the permanent reality in life, gloriously visible to those who have wakened out of the painful nightmare

of self.

As in the physical world Nature abhors a vacuum, so in the spiritual world disharmony is annulled.

The Divine Order cannot be perceived until passion and self are transcended.

November Twentieth.

THE man who thinks, " I have been slighted, I have been injured, I have been insulted, I have been

treated unjustly," cannot know what justice is ; blinded by self, he cannot perceive the pure Principles

of Truth, and, brooding upon his wrongs, he lives in continual misery.

In the region of passion there is a ceaseless conflict of forces causing suffering to all who are involved

in them. There is action and reaction, deed and consequence, cause and effect ; and within and above

all is the divine Justice regulating the play of forces with the utmost mathematical accuracy, balancing

cause and effect with the finest precision.

Justice is not perceived—cannot be perceived—by those who are engaged in conflict.

Having no knowledge of cause and effect in the moral sphere, men do not sec the exacting process

which is momentarily proceeding.

November Twenty-first.

MEN blindly inflict suffering upon themselves, living in passion and resentment, and not finding the

true way of life. Hatred is met with hatred, passion with passion, strife with strife. The man who kills is

himself killed ; the thief who lives by depriving others, is himself deprived; the beast that preys on

others is hunted and killed ; the accuser is accused, the condemner is condemned, the denouncer is

persecuted. " By this the slayer‘s knife doth stab himself, The unjust judge has lost his own defender,

The false tongue dooms its lie, the creeping

thief And spoiler rob to render.

" Such is the Law."

Ignorance keeps alive hatred and strife.

Cause and effect cannot be avoided ; consequence cannot be escaped.

November Twenty-second.

THE good man, having put away all resentment, retaliation, self-seeking, and egotism, has arrived at a

state of equilibrium, and has thereby become identified with the Eternal and Universal Equilibrium.

Having lifted himself above the blind forces of passion, he understands those forces, contemplates them

with a calm penetrating insight, like the solitary dweller on a mountain who looks down upon the

conflict of the storms beneath his feet. For him, injustice has ceased, and he sees ignorance and

suffering on the one hand, and enlightenment and bliss on the other. He sees that not only do the fool

and the slave need his sympathy, but that the fraud and the oppressor are equally in need of it, and so

his compassion is extended towards all.

Unerring Justice presides over all.

They who refuse to trim their lamps of reason will never perceive the Light of Truth.

November Twenty-third.

HE who will use the light of reason as a torch to search for Truth, will not be left at last in comfortless

darkness.

" Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as

white as snow."

Many men and women pass through untold sufferings, and at last die in their sins, because they refuse

to reason ; because they cling to those dark delusions which even a faint glimmer of the light of reason

would dispel ; and all must use their reason freely, fully, and faithfully, who would exchange the scarlet

robe of sin and suffering for the white garment of blessedness and peace.

They who despise the light of reason, despise the Light of Truth.

A man does not live until he begins to discipline himself ; he merely exists.

November Twenty-fourth.

BEFORE a man can accomplish anything of an enduring nature in the world he must first of all acquire

some measure of success in the management of his own mind. This is as mathematical a truism as that

two and two are four, for " out of the heart are the issues of life." If a man cannot govern the forces

within himself, he cannot long hold a firm hand upon the outer activities which form the visible life. On

the other hand, as a man succeeds in governing himself he rises to higher and higher levels of power

and usefulness and success in the world. Hitherto his life has been without purpose or meaning, but

now he begins to consciously mould his own destiny; he is " clothed and in his right mind."

With the practice of self-discipline a man begins to live.

In the process of self-discipline there are three stages— control, purification, and relinquishment.

November Twenty-Fifth.

A MAN begins to discipline himself by controlling those passions which have hitherto controlled him ;

he resists temptation, and guards himself against all those tendencies to selfish gratifications which are

so easy and natural, and which have formerly dominated him. He brings his appetite into subjection,

and begins to eat as a reasonable and responsible being, practising moderation and thoughtfulness in

the selection of his food, with the object of making his body a pure instrument through which he may

live and act as becomes a man, and no longer degrading that body by pandering to gustatory pleasure.

He puts a check upon his tongue, his temper, and, in fact, his every animal desire and tendency.

There is in the heart of every man and woman a selfless centre.

The Rock of Ages, the Christ within, the divine and immortal in all men !

November Twenty-sixth.

AS a man practises self-control he approximates more and more to the inward reality, and is less and

less

swayed by passion and grief, pleasure

and pain, and lives a steadfast and virtuous life, manifesting manly strength and fortitude. The

restraining of the passions, however, is merely the initial stage in self-discipline, and is immediately

followed by the process of Purification. By this a man so purifies himself as to take passion out of the

heart and mind altogether ; not merely restraining it when it rises within him, but preventing it from

rising altogether. By merely restraining his passions a man can never arrive at peace, can never

actualise his ideal ; he must purify these passions.

It is in the purification of his lower nature that a man becomes strong and godlike.

Purification is effected by thoughtful care, earnest meditation, and holy aspiration.

November Twenty-seventh.

TRUE strength and power and usefulness are born of self-purification, for the lower animal forces are

not lost,

but are transmuted into intellectual

and spiritual energy. The pure life (pure in thought and deed) is a life of conservation of energy ; the

impure life (even should the impurity not extend beyond thought) is a life of dissipation of energy. The

pure man is more capable, and therefore more fit to succeed in his plans and to accomplish his purposes

than the impure. Where the impure man fails, the pure man will step in and be victorious, because he

directs his energies with a calmer mind and a greater definiteness and strength of purpose.

With the growth in purity, all the elements which constitute a strong and virtuous manhood are

developed.

By self-discipline a man rises higher and higher, approximating more and more nearly to the divine.

November Twenty-eighth.

AS a man grows purer, he perceives that all evil is powerless, unless it receives his encouragement, and

so he ignores it, and lets it pass out of his life. It is by pursuing this aspect of self-discipline that a man

enters into and realises the divine life, and manifests those qualities which are distinctly divine, such as

wisdom, patience, non-resistance, compassion, and love. It is here, also, where a man becomes

consciously immortal, rising above all the fluctuations and uncertainties of life, and living in an

intelligent and unchangeable peace.

By self-discipline a man attains to every degree of virtue and holiness, and finally becomes a purified

son of God, realising his oneness with the central heart of all things.

A life without resolution is a life without aims, and a life without aims is a drifting and unstable thing.

November Twenty-ninth.

WHEN a man makes a resolution, it means that he is dissatisfied with his condition, and is

commencing to take himself in hand, with a view to producing a better piece of workmanship out of the

mental materials of which his character and life are composed, and in so far as he is true to his

resolution he will succeed in accomplishing his purpose.

The vows of the saintly ones are holy resolutions directed toward some victory over self, and the

beautiful achievements of holy men and the glorious conquests of the Divine Teachers were rendered

possible and actual by unswerving resolution.

Resolution—the companion of noble aims and lofty ideals.

True resolution is the crisis of long thought,

November Thirtieth.

HALF-HEARTED and premature resolution is no resolution at all, and is shattered at the first

difficulty.

A man should be slow to form a resolution. He should searchingly examine his position and take into

consideration every circumstance and difficulty with his decision, and should be fully prepared to meet

them. He should be sure that he completely understands the nature of his resolution, that his mind is

finally made up, and that he is without doubt in the matter. With the mind thus prepared, the resolution

that is formed will not be departed from, and by the aid of it a man will, in due time, accomplish his

strong purpose.

Hasty resolutions are futile.

Indolence is the twin sister of indifference, hat ready action is the friend of contentment.

December First.

CONTENTMENT is a virtue which

becomes lofty and spiritual, as the

mind is trained to perceive and the

heart to receive the guidance, in all

things, of a merciful law.

To be contented does not mean to forgo effort; it means to free effort from anxiety ; it does not mean to

be satisfied with sin ‘ and ignorance and folly, but to rest happily in duty done, and work accomplished.

A man may be said to be content to lead a grovelling life, to remain in sin and in debt, but such a man‘s

true state is one of indifference to his duty, his obligations, and the just claims of his fellow-men. He

cannot truly be said to possess the virtue of contentment ; he does not experience the pure and abiding

joy which is the accompaniment of active achievement.

True contentment is the outcome of honest effort and true living.

The truly contented man works energetically and faithfully, and accepts all results with an untroubled

spirit.

December Second.

THERE are three things with which a man should be content : With whatever happens ; with his

friendships and possessions ; and with his pure thoughts. Contented with whatever happens, he will

escape grief ; with his friendships and possessions, he will avoid anxiety and wretchedness ; and with

his pure thoughts, he will never go back to suffer and grovel in impurities.

There are three with which a man should not be content : With his opinions; with his character; and

with his spiritual condition. Not content with his opinions, he will continually increase in intelligence ;

not content with his character, he will ceaselessly grow in strength and virtue ; and not content with his

spiritual condition, he will, every day, enter into a larger wisdom and a fuller blessedness.

Results exactly correspond with efforts.

Universal Brotherhood is the supreme Ideal of Humanity, and towards that Ideal the world is slowly

but surely moving.

December Third.

BROTHERHOOD as a human organisation cannot exist so long as any degree of self-seeking reigns in

the hearts of men and women who band themselves together for any purpose, as such self-seeking must

eventually rend the Seamless Coat of loving unity. But although organised Brotherhood has so largely

failed, any man may realise Brotherhood in its perfection, and know it in all its beauty and completion,

if he will make himself a wise, pure, loving spirit, removing from his mind every element of strife, and

learning to practise those divine qualities without which Brotherhood is but a mere theory, opinion, or

illusive dream.

In whatsoever heart discord rules, Brotherhood is not realised.

Brotherhood is at first spiritual, and its outer manifestation in the world must follow as a natural result.

December Fourth.

FROM the spirit of Humility proceed meekness and peacefulness; from Self-surrender come patience,

wisdom, and true judgment ; from Love spring kindness, joy, harmony ; and from Compassion proceed

gentleness and forgiveness.

He who has brought himself into harmony with these four qualities is divinely enlightened ; he sees

whence the actions of men proceed and whither they tend, and therefore can no longer live in the

exercise of the dark tendencies. He has realised Brotherhood in its completion, as freedom from malice,

from envy, from bitterness, from contention, from condemnation. All men are his brothers, those who

live in the dark tendencies as well as those who live in the enlightening qualities. He has but one

attitude of mind towards all, that of goodwill.

Where pride, self-love, hatred, and condemnation are, there can be no Brotherhood.

Brotherhood consists, first of all, in the abandonment of self by the individual.

December Fifth.

THEORIES and schemes for propagating Brotherhood are many, but Brotherhood itself is one and

unchangeable, and consists in the complete cessation from egotism and strife, and in practising

goodwill and peace ; for Brotherhood is a practice and not a theory. Self-surrender and Goodwill are its

guardian angels, and peace is its habitation.

Where two are determined to maintain an opposing opinion, the clinging of self and ill-will are there,

and Brotherhood is absent.

Where two are prepared to sympathise with each other, to see no evil in each other, to serve and not to

attack each other, the love of Truth and Good-will are there and Brotherhood is present.

Brotherhood is only practised and known by him whose heart is at peace with all the world.

Prejudice and cruelty are inseparable.

December Sixth.

SYMPATHY is not required towards those who are purer and more enlightened than one‘s self, as the

purer one lives above the necessity for it. In such a case reverence should be exercised, with a striving

to lift one‘s self up to the purer level, and so enter possession of the larger life. Nor can a man fully

understand one who is wiser than himself, and before condemning, he should earnestly ask himself

whether he is, after all, better than the man whom he has singled out as the object of his bitterness. If he

is, let him bestow sympathy. If he is not, let him exercise reverence.

When a man is prone to harshly judge and condemn others, he should inquire how far he falls short

himself

Dislike, resentment, and condemnation are all forms of hatred, and evil cannot cease until these are

taken out of the heart.

December Seventh.

THE obliterating of injuries from the mind is merely one of the beginnings in wisdom. There is a still

higher and better way. And that way is to purify the heart and enlighten the mind that, far from having

to forget injuries, there will be none to remember. For it is only pride and self that can be injured and

wounded by the actions and attitudes of others ; and he who takes pride and self out of his heart can

never think the thought, " I have been injured by another," or, " I have been wronged by another."

From a purified heart proceeds the right comprehension of things ; and from the right comprehension of

things proceeds the life that is peaceful, freed from bitterness and suffering, calm and wise.

He who is troubled and disturbed about the sins of others is far from the Truth.

He who is troubled and disturbed about his own sins is very near to the Gate of Wisdom.

December Eighth.

HE in whose heart the flames of resentment burn, cannot know peace nor understand Truth; he who

will banish resentment from his heart, will know and understand.

He who has taken evil out of his own heart, cannot resent or resist it in others, for he is enlightened as

to its origin and nature, and knows it as a manifestation of the mistakes of ignorance. With the increase

of enlightenment, sin becomes impossible. He who sins, does not understand ; he who understands,

does not sin. The pure man maintains his tenderness of heart toward those who ignorantly imagine that

they can do him harm. The wrong attitude of others toward him does not trouble him ; his heart is at

rest in Compassion and Love.

Let those who aim at the right life, calmly and wisely understand.

A pure heart and a righteous life are the great and all-important things.

December Ninth.

THE deeds and thoughts that lead to suffering are those that spring from self-interest and self-seeking;

the thoughts and deeds that produce blessedness are those that spring from Truth. The process by which

the mind is thus changed and transmuted is two-fold; it consists of meditation and practice. By silent

meditation, the ground and reason of right conduct is sought, and by practice, right-doing is

accomplished in daily life.

For Truth is not a matter of book learning, or subtle reasoning, or disputation, or controversial skill; it

consists in right-doing.

Truth is not something that can be gleaned from a book ; it can be learned and known by practice only.

He only has Truth who has found it by practice.

December Tenth.

HE who wishes to acquire Truth must practise it. He must begin at the very first lesson in self-control,

thoroughly master it, and then pass on to the next and the next, until he attains to the moral perfection

at which he aims. It is common with men to imagine that Truth consists in holding certain ideas or

opinions. They read a number of treatises, and then form an opinion which they call " Truth," and then

they go about disputing with their fellow-men in order to try to prove that their opinion is the Truth. In

worldly matters men are wise, for they do things in order to achieve their ends, but in spiritual things

they are foolish, for they merely read, and do not do things, and then imagine they have acquired Truth.

He only has Truth whose life shows it forth in pure and blameless conduct.

Love, all inclusive.

December Eleventh.

BY its very nature, Love can never be the exclusive possession of any religion, sect, school, or

brotherhood. The common claim, therefore, of such sections of the community to the exclusive

possession of Truth in their particular religious doctrine is a denial of Love. Truth is a spirit and a life,

and though it may manifest through manifold doctrines, it can never be confined to any one particular

form of doctrine. Love is a winged angel that refuses to be chained to any letter doctrine whatsoever.

Love is above and beyond, outside and greater than all the opinions, doctrines, and philosophies of men

; yet Love includes all—the righteous and the unrighteous, the fair and foul, the clean and the unclean.

He whose Love is so deep and wide as to envelop all men of all creeds is he who has most of religion,

and most of wisdom, and also most of insight, for he knows and sees men as they are.

Hatred is absence of Love, and therefore absence of all that is included in Love.

Love broadens and expands the mind of a man until it embraces in its kindly folds all mankind without

distinction.

December Twelfth.

THE way of Love is the way of Life— Immortal Life—and the beginning of that way consists in

getting rid of our carpings, quarrellings, fault-findings, and suspicions. If these petty vices possess us,

let us not deceive ourselves, but let us confess that we have not Love. To be thus honest with ourselves

is to be prepared to find Love ; but to be self-deceived is to be shut out from Love. If we are to grow in

Love, we must begin at the beginning, and remove from our minds all mean and suspicious thoughts

about our fellow-workers and fellow-men. We must learn to treat them with large-hearted freedom, and

to perceive the right reason for their actions, to excuse them on grounds of personal right and personal

freedom when their opinions, methods, or actions are contrary to us; thus shall we come at last to love

them with that Love of which St. Paul speaks, a Love that is a permanent principle.

He who has Love—of whatsoever creed or none— is enlightened with the Light of Truth.

The Life of Truth is that in which wrong-thinking and wrong-doing are abandoned, and right-thinking

and right-doing are embraced.

December Thirteenth.

IT is the wrong deeds of men which bring all the unhappiness into the world. It will be right deeds

which will transform all its misery into happiness. By wrong deeds we come to sorrow ; by right deeds

we come to bliss.

But a man must not think the thought : " It is the wrong deeds of others which have made me unhappy,"

for such a thought produces bitterness towards others and increases hatred. He must understand that his

unhappiness is from something wrong within himself ; he must regard it as a sign that he is yet

imperfect, that there is some weak spot within which must be strengthened. He must never accuse

others for his lapses of conduct, or for his troubles, but must gain more steadfastness of heart, must

establish himself more firmly in the Truth.

Walk with lowly footsteps the holy way of Truth.

The principles of Truth are fixed and eternal, and cannot be made or unmade by anyone.

December Fourteenth.

THE principles of Truth were discovered by searching and practice, and are so stated and arranged as to

make the path plainer for other feet to tread ; and it is the path along which every being has travelled

who has passed from sin to sinlessness, from error to Truth. It is the ancient Way along which every

saint, every Buddha, every Christ has walked to divine perfection, and along which every imperfect

being in the future will pass to reach this glorious goal. It matters not what religion a man professes, if

he is daily striving with his own sins, and purifying his heart, he is walking this path; for while

opinions, theologies, and religions differ, sin does not differ, the overcoming of sin does not differ, and

Truth does not differ.

Religions change from age to age, but the principles of divine virtue are eternally the same.

Truth is one, though it has a variety of aspects, and is adaptable to men in various stages of growth.

December Fifteenth.

WE have sat at the feet of all the Great Teachers, and have learned of them. Unspeakable has been our

rejoicing to have found, in the lives and precepts of gentle Indian and Chinese Teachers, the same

divine qualities and the same preceptive truths which adorn the character of Jesus Christ. To us they are

all wonderful and adorable, and so great and good and wise that we can but reverence and learn of

them. They have also had the same marvellous influence for good over the various races among which

they have appeared, and have all equally called forth the undying worship of millions of human beings.

Great Teachers are perfected flowers of humanity, types of what all men will one day be.

Perfect purity of heart is a condition of emancipation from all the cravings and indulgences of self.

December Sixteenth.

THERE is a distinction between a worldly life and a religious life. He who is daily following his

impure inclinations, with no wish to give them up, is irreligious ; while he who is daily controlling and

purging away his impure inclinations is religious.

The religious man should curb his passions and the indulgence of his desires, for that is what

constitutes religion. He must learn to see men and things as they are, and must perceive that they are

living in accordance with their nature, and their right of choosing their path as intelligent human

beings. He must never intrude his rules of life upon them ; and never presume to be, or even think of

himself as being, on a " higher plane " than they are. He must learn to put himself in their place, and to

see from their standpoint.

A lover of Truth must be a lover of all men. He must let his love go out without restraint or stint.

The ground of certainty on which we can securely rest amid all the incidents of life, is the mathematical

exactitude of the moral law.

December Seventeenth.

THE unceasing change, the insecurity and the mystery of life make it necessary to find some basis of

certainty on which to rest if happiness and peace of mind are to be maintained. This basic principle, a

knowledge of which the whole race will ultimately acquire, is best represented by the term Divine

Justice. Human justice differs with every man according to his own light or darkness, but there can be

no variation in that Divine Justice by which the universe is eternally sustained. Divine Justice is

spiritual mathematics. As with figures and objects, so with the thoughts and deeds of men, two and two

equally make four.

Given the same cause, there will always be the same effect.

All the spiritual laws with which men are acquainted have, and must have, the same infallibility in their

operations.

December Eighteenth.

GIVEN the same thought or deed in a like circumstance, the result will always be the same. Without

this fundamental ethical justice there could be no human society, for it is the just reactions of the deeds

of individuals which prevents society from tottering to its fall.

It thus follows that the inequalities of life, as regards the distribution of happiness and suffering, are the

outworking of moral forces operating along lines of flawless accuracy. This flawless accuracy, this

perfect law, is the one great fundamental certainty in life, the finding of which insures a man‘s

perfection, makes him wise and enlightened, and fills him with rejoicing and peace.

The moral order of the universe is not, cannot be disproportionate, for if it were, the universe would

fall.

Nothing can transcend right.

December Nineteenth.

TAKE away a belief in this certainty from a man‘s consciousness, and he is adrift on a self-created

ocean of chance, without rudder, chart, or compass. He has no ground on which to build a character or

life, no incentive for noble deeds, no centre for moral action ; he has no island of peace and no harbour

of refuge. Even the crudest idea of God as of a great man whose mind is perfect, who cannot err, and

who has " no variableness nor shadow of turning," is a popular expression of a belief in this basic

principle of Divine Justice.

According to this principle there is neither favour nor chance, but unerring and unchangeable right.

Thus all the sufferings of men are right as effects, their causes being the mistakes of ignorance; but as

effects they will pass away.

Man cannot suffer for something which he has never done, or never left undone, for this would be an

effect without a cause.

Talent, genius, goodness, greatness, are not launched upon the world ready-made. They are the result

of a long train of causes and effects.

December Twentieth.

THE process of growth is seen in the flower, but though not seen in the mental growth, it is

nevertheless there.

I said the process of mental growth was not seen; but this is only true in a general sense. The true

thinker and sage does see, with his spiritual eye, the process of spiritual growth. Just as the natural

scientist has made himself acquainted with natural causes and effects— as, indeed, the ordinary

observer is so acquainted—so he has made himself familiar with spiritual causes and effects. He sees

the process by which characters, like plants, come into being; and when he sees the flowers of genius

and virtue appear, he knows from what mental seeds they sprang, and how they gradually came to

perfection through long periods of silent growth.

Nothing appears ready-made. There is always a changing, a growing, a becoming.

An awakened vision calls us to a nobler life.

December Twenty-first.

AS a man cannot live in two countries at the same time, but must leave the one before he can settle in

the other, so a man cannot inhabit two spiritual countries at the same time, but must leave behind the

land of sin before he can live at peace in the land of truth. When one leaves his native land, that he may

begin anew in an adopted country, he leaves behind all beloved associations, sweet companionships,

dear friends and relatives, yea, all upon which his heart has been ever set must be parted with and left

behind. So when one resolves to live in the new world of Truth, the old world of error, with its loved

pleasures, cherished sins, and vain associations, must be renounced. By such renunciation the

individual gains, humanity gains, and the universe becomes a brighter and more beautiful habitation.

We must shake the mud of the valley from our feet if we are to commune with the mountain silence.

Right thoughts spring from a right mental attitude, and lead to right actions.

December Twenty-second.

THAT is the right mental attitude which seeks the good in all the occurrences of life, and extracts

strength, knowledge, and wisdom from them. Right thoughts are thoughts of cheer, of joy, of hope, of

confidence, of courage, of constant love, of large generosity, of abounding faith and trust. These are the

affirmations that make strong characters and useful and noble lives, and that build up those personal

successes which make the progress of the world. Such thoughts are inevitably followed by right action,

by the putting forth of energy and effort in work, in the accomplishment of some legitimate object ; and

as the climber at last reaches the hill-top, so the earnest, cheerful, and untiring worker at last

accomplishes his end.

All the successful people, through all time, have reached their particular success by labouring for it.

Suffering is a purifying and perfecting process. " We become obedient by the things which we suffer."

December Twenty-third.

TO inflict suffering upon others is to become more deeply involved in ignorance ; but to suffer

ourselves is to come nearer to enlightenment. Pain teaches men how to be kind and compassionate. It at

last makes them tender-hearted and thoughtful for the sufferings of others. When a man does a cruel

deed, he thinks, in his ignorance, that that is the end of it, but it is only the beginning. Attached to the

deed is a train of consequences which will plunge him in a tormenting hell of pain. For every wrong

thought we think, or unkind deed we do, we must suffer some form of mental or bodily pain ; and the

kind of pain will be in accordance with the initiative thought or act.

By acquainting man with suffering, it enables him to feel for the sufferings of others.

Every resource is already with you and within you.

December Twenty-fourth.

JUST as the strong doing of small tasks leads to greater strength, so the doing of those tasks weakly

leads to greater weakness. What a man is in his fractional duties that he is in the aggregate of his

character. Weakness is as great a source of suffering as sin, and there can be no true blessedness until

some measure of strength of character is evolved. The weak man becomes strong by attaching value to

little things and doing them accordingly. The strong man becomes weak by falling into looseness and

neglect concerning small things, thereby forfeiting his simple wisdom and squandering his energy.

There is no way to strength and wisdom but by acting strongly and wisely in the present moment.

The year is passing, and blessed are they who can let its mistakes, its injuries, and wrongs pass away

for ever, and be remembered no more.

December Twenty-fifth.

THE past is dead and unalterable ; let it sink into oblivion, but extract and retain its divine lessons; let

those lessons be strength to you now, and make them the starting-points of a nobler, purer, more perfect

life in the coming years. Let all thoughts of hatred, resentment, strife, and ill-will die with the dying

years ; erase from the tablet of your heart all malicious memories, all unholy grudges. Let the cry, "

Peace on earth and good-will to men ! " which at this season re-echoes through the world from myriads

of lips, be to you something more than an oft-reiterated platitude. Let its truth be practised by you ; let

it dwell in your heart; and do not mar its harmony and peace by thoughts of ill-will.

Blessed is he who has no wrongs to remember, no injuries to forget; in whose pure heart no hateful

thought about another can take root and flourish.

No man can be confronted with a difficulty which he has not the strength to meet and subdue.

December Twenty-sixth.

DO not regard your difficulties and perplexities as portentous of ill; by so doing you will make them ill;

but regard them as prophetic of good, which, indeed, they are. Do not persuade yourself that you can

evade them : you cannot. Do not try to run away from them ; this is impossible, for wherever you go

they will still be there with you—but meet them calmly and bravely ; confront them with all the

dispassion and dignity which you can command ; weigh up their proportions ; measure their strength ;

understand them ; attack them, and finally vanquish them. Thus will you develop strength and

intelligence ; thus will you enter one of those byways of blessedness which are hidden from the

superficial gaze.

There is no peace in sin, no rest in error, no final refuge but in Wisdom.

Go to your task with love in your heart and you will go to it light-hearted and cheerful.

December Twenty-seventh.

WHAT heavy burden is a man weighted with which is not made heavier and more unendurable by

weak thoughts or selfish desires ? If your circumstances are " trying " it is because you need them, and

can evolve the strength to meet them. They are trying because there is some weak spot in you, and they

will continue to be trying until that spot is eradicated. Be glad that you have the opportunity of

becoming stronger and wiser. No circumstances can be trying to wisdom ; nothing can weary love. Stop

brooding over your own trying circumstances and contemplate the lives of some of those about you.

The duty which you shirk is your reproving angel; the pleasure which you race after is your flattering

enemy.

Animal indulgence is alien to the perception of Truth.

December Twenty-eighth.

THERE are little selfish indulgences, some of which appear harmless, and are commonly fostered ; but

no selfish indulgence can be harmless, and men and women do not know what they lose by repeatedly

and habitually succumbing to effeminate and selfish gratifications. If the God in man is to rise strong

and triumphant, the beast in man must perish. The pandering to the animal nature, even when it appears

innocent and seems sweet, leads away from truth and blessedness. Each time you give way to the

animal within you, and feed and gratify him, he waxes stronger and more rebellious, and takes firmer

possession of your mind, which should be in the keeping of Truth.

Live superior to the craving for sense-excitement, and you will live neither vainly nor uncertainly.

Sacrifice all hatred, slay it upon the altar of devotion— devotion to others.

December Twenty-ninth.

WHATEVER others may say of you, whatever they may do to you, never take offence. Do not return

hatred with hatred. If another hates you perhaps you have, consciously or unconsciously, failed

somewhere in your conduct, or there may be some misunderstanding which the exercise of a little

gentleness and reason may remove ; but under all circumstances " Father, forgive them " is infinitely

better than " I will have nothing more to do with them." Hatred is so small and poor, so blind and

wretched. Love is so great and rich, so far-seeing and blissful.

Open the floodgates of your heart for the inpouring of that sweet, great, beautiful love which embraces

all.

Inside the gateway of unselfishness lies the elysium of Abiding Joy.

December Thirtieth.

KNOWING this—that selfishness leads to misery, and unselfishness to joy, not merely for one‘s self

alone—for if this were all how unworthy would be our endeavours !—but for the whole world, and

because all with whom we live and come in contact will be the happier and the truer for unselfishness ;

because Humanity is one, and the joy of one is the joy of all—knowing this, let us scatter flowers and

not thorns in the common ways of life—yea, even in the highway of our enemies let us scatter the

blossoms of unselfish love—so shall the pressure of their footprints fill the air with the perfume of

holiness and gladden the world with the aroma of joy.

Seek the highest Good, and you will taste the deepest, sweetest joy.

The universe has no favorites; it is supremely just, and gives to every man his rightful earnings.

December Thirty-first.

HAPPY in the Eternal Happiness is he who has come to that Life from which the thought of self is

abolished. Already, even now and in this life, he has entered the Kingdom of Heaven. He is at rest on

the bosom of the Infinite.

Sweet is the rest and deep the bliss of him who has freed his heart from its lusts and hatreds and dark

desires; and he who, without any shadow of bitterness or selfishness, can breathe, in his heart, the

blessing:

Peace unto all living things,

making no exceptions or distinctions—such a man has reached that happy ending which can never be

taken away, the fulness of peace, the consummation of Perfect Blessedness.

Man can find the right way in life, and, having found it, can rejoice and be glad.